The United States jobless rate rose to 8.1 percent to a 25 year high in February. The number of unemployed people in the USA is now 12.5 million according to the figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job losses in February were large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors with healthcare again proving to be the exception.
Total payroll employment dropped by 651,000 in February. Employment declined in most major industry sectors, with the largest losses occurring in professional and business services (180,000), manufacturing (168,000), and construction (104,000). The health care sector continued to add a modest number jobs over the month (27,000). Job growth occurred mainly in ambulatory health care and in hospitals.
American payroll employment has declined by 2.6 million in just the past 4 months. Since the recession began in December 2007, about 4.4 million jobs have been lost, with more than half (2.6 million) of the decrease occurring since November 2008.
In February, average hourly earnings of workers on rose to $18.55 and average weekly earnings rose to $617.72. American wages haven risen sharply in terms of Sterling, as the pound has weakened considerably against the US Dollar recently.
“Though largely anticipated, the labour market data released today provides further evidence of worsening economic conditions in the United States. Even greater losses are expected for the near-term too though,” said Arek Ohanissian at the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
<h4>February 2009 earnings by industry sector</h4>
<table width=”390″ cellspacing=”1″ cellpadding=”2″ border=”0″ bgcolor=”darkgray” align=”center”>
<tr>
<td class=”tabletop” style=”width: 130px; height: 30px;”>Industry</td>
<td class=”tabletop” style=”width: 130px” height: 30px;>Average Weekly Earnings $ </td>
<td class=”tabletop” style=”width: 130px” height: 30px;>12 Month % change</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Natural resources and mining </td>
<td class=”cell”>1008 </td>
<td class=”cell”>2.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Construction </td>
<td class=”cell”>821 </td>
<td class=”cell”>2.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Manufacturing/Durable Goods </td>
<td class=”cell”>752 </td>
<td class=”cell”>-0.1</td>
</tr>
<td class=”cell”>Manufacturing/Nondurable Goods </td>
<td class=”cell”>645 </td>
<td class=”cell”>1.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Wholesale trade </td>
<td class=”cell”>784 </td>
<td class=”cell”>3.2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Retail trade </td>
<td class=”cell”>383 </td>
<td class=”cell”>0.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Transportation and
warehousing</td>
<td class=”cell”>666 </td>
<td class=”cell”>1.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Utilities</td>
<td class=”cell”>1277 </td>
<td class=”cell”>4.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Information </td>
<td class=”cell”>923 </td>
<td class=”cell”>4.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Financial activities </td>
<td class=”cell”>758 </td>
<td class=”cell”>6.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Professional and business services</td>
<td class=”cell”>789 </td>
<td class=”cell”>10.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Education and health services</td>
<td class=”cell”>624 </td>
<td class=”cell”>3.3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Leisure and hospitality</td>
<td class=”cell”>276 </td>
<td class=”cell”>2.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class=”cell”>Other services</td>
<td class=”cell”>501 </td>
<td class=”cell”>3.8</td>
</tr>
</table>
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