Current Labor Indicators
- Total Unemployment: 8.3%
- College Educated Unemployment: 4.1%
- Total Job Loss/Gain: +163,000
- Temporary Penetration Rate: 1.91%
While the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a .1 percent increase in the July unemployment rate, the U.S. gained 163,000 jobs – well above consensus expectations of 95,000. It is important to note that differences in actual and projected BLS figures are often adjusted based on various survey types and data revisions in order to better identify key economic trends.
Making headlines again this month, is the increase in the temporary workforce. Temporary jobs accelerated 10.6 percent year-over-year in July, displaying the fastest growth since May 2011. This figure was up .6 percent sequentially, just above the normal .4 percent increase from June to July.
Meanwhile, the temporary penetration rate (temporary workers as a percentage of the total workforce) increased from 1.898 percent to 1.906 percent – the highest level since April 2007. While this figure is still below its peaks in April 2000 and November 2005, it continues to show a positive indication of projected growth in the temporary labor sector.
Finally, manufacturing, healthcare as well as professional and business services led job gains for July – with temporary jobs accounting for 14,000 of the 49,000 additions in the professional and business services sector. These figures show positive trends as temporary work increases and the duration of unemployment decreases, which is an encouraging sign for permanent opportunities.
A positive indicator - the duration of unemployment is falling
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