Washington — Nov. 8
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 204,000 in October and the unemployment rate was little changed at 7.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Employment increased in leisure and hospitality, retail trade, professional and technical services, manufacturing and health care.
Both the number of unemployed persons — at 11.3 million — and the unemployment rate changed little in October. Among the unemployed, however, the number who reported being on temporary layoff increased by 448,000. This figure includes furloughed federal employees who were classified as unemployed on temporary layoff under the definitions used in the household survey.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7 percent), adult women (6.4 percent), teenagers (22.2 percent), whites (6.3 percent), blacks (13.1 percent) and Hispanics (9.1 percent) showed little or no change in October. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.2 percent, little changed from a year earlier.
The number of long-term unemployed — those jobless for 27 weeks or more — was little changed at 4.1 million in October. These individuals accounted for 36.1 percent of the unemployed. The number of long-term unemployed has declined by 954,000 over the year.
The civilian labor force was down by 720,000 in October. The labor force participation rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 62.8 percent over the month. Total employment as measured by the household survey fell by 735,000 over the month and the employment-population ratio declined by 0.3 percentage point to 58.3 percent. This employment decline partly reflected a decline in federal government employment.
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons — sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers — was little changed at 8.1 million in October. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.
In October, 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from 2.4 million a year earlier. 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 four weeks preceding the survey.
Among the marginally attached, there were 815,000 discouraged workers in October, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in October had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
