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Employment decreases in government in September

October 12, 2010

Government employment fell by 159,000 in September. A decline in federal government employment was due to the loss of 77,000 temporary Census 2010 jobs. As of September, about 6,000 temporary decennial census workers remained on the federal government payroll, down from a peak of 564,000 in May.

1-month change in nonfarm payroll employment, selected industries, September 2010
[Chart data]

Employment in local government decreased by 76,000 in September, with job losses in both education and noneducation.

Employment in construction edged down (‑21,000) over the month, partly offsetting an employment gain in August. Both the August and September changes were concentrated among nonresidential specialty trade contractors. Construction employment has shown little net change since February.

Employment in manufacturing changed little in September and, on net, has been essentially flat since May. The industry added 134,000 jobs during the first 5 months of the year.

Within professional and business services, employment services added 28,000 jobs in September. Temporary help services accounted for most of the gain.

Health care employment (within education and health services) rose by 24,000 in September. The increase was concentrated in ambulatory health care services (+17,000). Health care employment has risen by an average of 21,000 per month this year.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places increased by 34,000 over the month and has risen by 104,000 thus far in 2010.

Employment in wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and financial activities showed little change in September.

Mining employment continued to trend up (+6,000) over the month. Mining has added 77,000 jobs since a recent low in October 2009.

Total nonfarm payroll employment edged down by 95,000 in September. Private-sector payroll employment continued to trend up (+64,000) over the month.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months are preliminary. See "The Employment Situation — September 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-1393, for more information.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employment decreases in government in September at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2010/ted_20101012.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

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