Employment continued to decline in January

Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 89,000 in January to 131.2 million, seasonally adjusted. Since the recession began in March 2001, payroll employment has declined by 1.4 million.

[Chart data—TXT]

Manufacturing employment fell by 89,000 in January, compared with average losses of 137,000 a month in fourth quarter 2001. Construction employment fell by 54,000, despite relatively mild weather across most of the country. Mining lost jobs for the third consecutive month in January, primarily in metal mining.

Retail trade posted a seasonally adjusted gain of 62,000 jobs in January, following losses that totaled 241,000 in the last 5 months of 2001. Seasonal hiring for the holidays in department, apparel, and miscellaneous retail stores (such as toy stores) had been very light. As a result, there were fewer seasonal layoffs than usual in January, resulting in employment gains after seasonal adjustment.

These data are products of the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. For more information, see The Employment Situation: January 2002, news release USDL. 02-47.