BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

> BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2001:
>
> RELEASED TODAY:  Employment fell and the unemployment rate rose sharply to
> 4.9 percent in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today.
> Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 113,000, due primarily to another
> large drop in manufacturing and a decline in transportation and public
> utilities.  Most other major industries showed little or no change in
> employment over the month.
> Also released:  Statement of Katharine G. Abraham, Commissioner of Labor
> Statistics, before the Joint Economic Committee, United States Congress.
>
> The nation's unemployment rate soared to 4.9 percent in August, the
> highest level in nearly 4 years, and businesses slashed 113,000 jobs as
> the slumping economy continued to hammer the labor market.  The Labor
> Department reported today that the unemployment rate jumped 0.4 percent in
> August, up from 4.5 percent, the level it had held since April.
> Manufacturing was once again hardest hit, and the August decline of
> 141,000 jobs was the largest so far this year.  Virtually every major
> manufacturing industry lost jobs last month.  Since July 2000,
> manufacturing employment has plummeted by 1 million. While the August
> jobless rate is still low by historical standards, it marks a sharp
> deterioration from the 3-decade low of 3.9 percent hit in several months
> last year( Leigh Strope, Associated Press,
> http://www.latimes.com/business/sns-economy.story.  In the Los Angeles
> Times website, the Strope piece includes a link to The Employment
> Situation Summary, including the BLS logo, at
> http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm).
>
> Economists agree that substantial weakness in labor markets will prompt
> the Federal Open Market Committee to cut short-term interest rates another
> 25 basis points in October, despite the apparent rebound in manufacturing
> activity indicated in Tuesday's National Association of Purchasing
> Management report.  The NAPM's latest monthly index posted its strongest
> gain in 5 years as new orders and factory production rose in August
> (Carlisle Newman, BridgeNews, Chicago Tribune).
>
> Business activity in the service economy decreased in August, according to
> a survey by the National Association of Purchasing Management.  The NAPM's
> nonmanufacturing business activity index decreased 3.4 percentage points
> to 45.5 in August from July's 48.9 percent.  "Overall in August,
> nonmanufacturing industries continued to contract, in both business
> activity and new orders, compared to July," said Ralph G. Kaufman, chair
> of the NAPM's nonmanufacturing business survey committee. For the sixth
> consecutive month, employment in the nonmanufacturing sector contracted.
> For the first time in 8 months, the nonmanufacturing imports index
> increased  in August to 53.8 percent, an increase of 3.9 percentage points
> compared to July (Daily Labor Report, page A-8; The Wall Street Journal,
> page A2).
>
> The federal tax rebates, which were supposed to stimulate demand for
> consumer goods, failed to transform America's shoppers into bigger
> spenders in August, resulting in disappointing sales for many stores and
> renewing fears that the December holiday shopping season will be one of
> the most lackluster in years.  Sales over all rose 2.8 percent for the
> month, according to the Goldman, Sachs retail composite index, but sales
> at many department stores fell, as expected.  Consumers instead appeared
> to head for discounters, if they were going to part with their cash (The
> New York Times, page C8).
>
> There's no recession among the roughnecks on the natural gas rigs in East
> Texas and the Rocky Mountains, says The Wall Street Journal (page A1).
> San Francisco and San Jose may have been the places to be 2 years ago.
> But in the midst of the broadly deteriorating U.S. economy, employment
> boom towns have been springing up in such places as Rock Springs and
> Gillette, Wyoming.  Rigs have sprouted up all over as more natural gas
> wells are being drilled than at any time in nearly 20 years.  This summer,
> the number of active rigs hit 1,293, more than double the number operating
> in early 1999 -- darker days for the industry.  Applicants don't need
> fancy degrees or venture capital to be rough necks, the term for
> lower-level oil-field workers.  Rather muscle, the ability to survive
> sweltering heat and a willingness to bunk with co-workers can pay off.
> Drilling companies and contractors are in such desperate need of hands
> that they are paying $75,000 a year or more to roughnecks working 7 days
> on and 7 days off (The Wall Street Journal, page A1).
>
> One in five workers changed employment status during the second quarter,
> according to a graph in Business Week, September 10, page 16, whose data
> is attributed to a survey of 1,004 adult Americans, July 2001, made by Lee
> Hecht Harrison.  About half of those who were laid off say they've already
> found a new job.
>
> New claims for jobless benefits dropped last week but remained at a level
> suggesting the labor market has not rebounded from the economic downturn.
> Applications for state unemployment insurance benefits fell by a
> seasonally adjusted 3,000, to 402,000, in the workweek ending Sept. 1, the
> Labor Department said. But the total number of laid-off workers receiving
> unemployment benefits continued to climb, hitting a nine-year high of 3.21
> million (Washington Post, page E2).
>

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