By Kellie Lail
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its August 2022 Report, so let’s take a look at how employment fared over the last month.
The great news: In August, employment rose by 315,000. with the unemployment rate rising to 3.7%, a 0.2% increase in unemployment. The industries that garnered the largest share of jobs were professional and business services, health care, and retail trade. The labor force participation rate increased by 0.3% in August, leaving us 0.1% away from the pre-pandemic February 2020 level.
The good news: The number of long-term unemployed persons and persons on temporary layoff was relatively unchanged in August. The number of persons who currently want a job declined by 361,000 in August, landing at a total of 5.5 million people. This number still remains half a million people higher than the February 2020 level of 5 million persons who were looking for work. 1.9 million persons reported that due to loss of business or the closing of their employer, they were unable to work in August. This has decreased from 2.2 million persons in July. In August, hourly earnings for employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents to $32.36. Average hourly earnings have increased by 5.2% since August of 2021, but have still not risen to meet the increase in inflation over the same period of time. Average hourly earnings for people in private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees have risen by 10 cents to $27.68 in August.
The bad news: In August, the unemployment rates for adult men and Hispanics rose, accounting for 3.5% and 4.5% of unemployment, respectively. The total number of unemployed persons in the United States landed at 6.0 million in August, an increase of 344,000. The number of permanent job losers rose in August by 188,000 making the total of permanent job losers 1.4 million. 523,000 unemployed persons were unable to look for work as a result of the pandemic, showing little change from July.
Keep in mind: Inflation continues to rise along with the cost of living. With the rise of hourly wages paced behind the rate of inflation, being a competitive employer continues to be more important than ever. To attract the best candidates that are looking to work in your industry, you must show them that you are the most competitive employer in terms of salary, benefits, career stability, remote or flexibility options. and career growth opportunities.
Key Takeaways: Despite unemployment rates rising slightly in August, the job market continues to grow in competition. Another thing to keep in mind is that telecommuting or remote work remains popular in the current job market, with 6.5% of workers telecommuting in August because of the coronavirus pandemic, showing only a slight decrease from the previous month. Many demographics such as people reporting they were prevented from looking for work and discouraged workers who believed no jobs were available for them remain virtually unchanged from July.