Employment changes by industry in August 2010

Total nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (‑54,000) in August. Government employment fell by 121,000, reflecting the departure of 114,000 temporary Census 2010 workers from federal government payrolls. Total private employment continued to trend up modestly over the month (+67,000).

[Chart data]

In August, employment in health care (part of education and health services) increased by 28,000, with the largest gains occurring in ambulatory health care services (+17,000) and hospitals (+9,000).

Mining employment rose by 8,000 in August. Since a recent low in October 2009, employment in the industry has increased by 72,000.

Manufacturing employment declined by 27,000 over the month. A decline in motor vehicles and parts (‑22,000) offset a gain of similar magnitude in July as the industry departed somewhat from its usual layoff and recall pattern for annual retooling.

Within professional and business services, employment in temporary help services was up by 17,000. This industry has added 392,000 jobs since a recent employment low in September 2009.

In August, construction employment was up (+19,000). This change partially reflected the return to payrolls of 10,000 workers who were on strike in July.

Employment in other private-sector industries, including wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality, showed little change in August.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. The data are seasonally adjusted, and data for the most recent two months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation—August 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-1212.