The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its September 2024 Report, so let’s take a look at how employment fared over the last month.
The great news is:
- In September, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 254,000 people.
- Food services, social assistance, construction, government, and health care garnered the largest share of new jobs in September.
- In September, average hourly earnings for private non-farm payroll jobs increased by 0.4%, or 13 cents, to $35.36. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4%.
The good news is:
- The number of long-term unemployed, people without a job for 27 weeks or more, showed little change at 1.6 million people, accounting for 23.7% of total unemployed persons.
- The average work week for private non-farm payroll employees decreased by 0.1 hours to 34.2 hours in September
- The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job changed little in September at 5.7 million people. Keep in mind, these 5.6 million people were not counted as unemployed because they were unavailable to take a job or were not actively looking for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
The bad news is:
- The unemployment rate changed little in September at 4.1% or 6.8 million people.
- The number of discouraged workers who believed there were no jobs available to them changed little in September at 445,000 people.
- The labor force participation rate has shown little change over the past year and remained at 62.7% for the third month in a row.