(02-07-20) Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 225,000 in January, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in construction, in health care, and in transportation and warehousing. This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics. The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two surveys. Household Survey Data – Both the unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 5.9 million, changed little in January. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.3 percent), adult women (3.2 percent), teenagers (12.2 percent), Whites (3.1 percent), Blacks (6.0 percent), Asians (3.0 percent), and Hispanics (4.3 percent) showed little or no change over the month. Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants to the labor force increased by 183,000 in January to 1.8 million but was little changed over the year. (Reentrants are persons who previously worked but were not in the labor force prior to beginning their job search.). The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 1.2 million, was unchanged in January. These individuals accounted for 19.9 percent of the unemployed. After accounting for the annual adjustments to the population controls, the civilian labor force rose by 574,000 in January, and the labor force participation rate edged up by 0.2 percentage point to 63.4 percent. The employment-population ratio, at 61.2 percent, changed little over the month but was up by 0.5 percentage point over the year. The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.2 million, was essentially unchanged in January. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. The number of persons marginally attached to the labor force, at 1.3 million, changed little in January. These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for a variety of reasons, such as belief that no jobs are available for them (referred to as discouraged workers), school attendance, or family responsibilities. Discouraged workers numbered 337,000 in January, little changed over the month.
The Employment Situation (02-07-20)
- Economic Monthly Summaries, The Employment Situation
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