Employment Situation Summary
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Technical information: USDL 01-02
Household data: (202) 691-6378
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Establishment data: 691-6555 embargoed until 8:30 A.M. (EST),
Media contact: 691-5902 Friday, January 5, 2001.
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: DECEMBER 2000
Employment rose modestly in December, and the unemployment rate was
unchanged at 4.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Labor reported today. Total nonfarm payroll employment
increased by 105,000, as gains in government and other service-producing
industries more than offset large declines in manufacturing and help supply
services. Over the last 3 months of 2000, total payroll employment gains
averaged 77,000, compared with an average monthly gain of 187,000 during
the first 9 months of the year and 229,000 a month for all of 1999.
Average hourly earnings increased by 5 cents in December.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
Both the number of unemployed persons, 5.7 million, and the
unemployment rate, 4.0 percent, were unchanged in December. The jobless
rate has ranged from 3.9 to 4.1 percent since October 1999. The rates for
the major worker groups--adult men (3.4 percent), adult women (3.4 percent),
teenagers (13.1 percent), whites (3.5 percent), blacks (7.6 percent), and
Hispanics (5.7 percent)--showed little or no change over the month.
(See tables A-1 and A-2.)
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
Total employment increased by 358,000 in December to 135.8 million,
seasonally adjusted. The employment-population ratio--the proportion of the
population age 16 and older with jobs--edged up to 64.5 percent. The
civilian labor force grew by 353,000 to 141.5 million, while the labor
force participation rate, 67.1 percent, was essentially unchanged. (See
table A-1.)
The number of people who held more than one job in December was about
7.7 million (not seasonally adjusted). These multiple jobholders
represented 5.7 percent of total employment, compared with 6.0 percent a
year earlier. (See table A-10.)
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
About 1.1 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally
attached to the labor force in December, about the same number as a year
earlier. These people wanted and were available to work and
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| Seasonally adjusted household survey data have been revised to |
|incorporate updated seasonal adjustment factors that reflect the |
|2000 experience; data back to January 1996 were subject to revision.|
|The unemployment rates for January-December 2000, as originally |
|published and as revised, appear on page 5, along with additional |
|information on the revisions. |
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Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
___________________________________________________________________________
| Quarterly | Monthly data |
| averages | |
|_________________|__________________________| Nov.-
Category | 2000 | 2000 | Dec.
|_________________|__________________________|change
| III | IV | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. |
______________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
HOUSEHOLD DATA | Labor force status
|____________________________________________________
Civilian labor force..| 140,706| 141,208| 141,000| 141,136| 141,489| 353
Employment..........| 135,049| 135,593| 135,464| 135,478| 135,836| 358
Unemployment........| 5,657| 5,616| 5,536| 5,658| 5,653| -5
Not in labor force....| 69,235| 69,358| 69,378| 69,441| 69,254| -187
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Unemployment rates
|____________________________________________________
All workers...........| 4.0| 4.0| 3.9| 4.0| 4.0| .0
Adult men...........| 3.3| 3.4| 3.3| 3.4| 3.4| .0
Adult women.........| 3.6| 3.4| 3.4| 3.4| 3.4| .0
Teenagers...........| 13.5| 12.9| 12.6| 13.0| 13.1| 0.1
White...............| 3.5| 3.5| 3.4| 3.5| 3.5| .0
Black...............| 7.6| 7.5| 7.4| 7.5| 7.6| .1
Hispanic origin.....| 5.6| 5.6| 5.0| 6.0| 5.7| -.3
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
ESTABLISHMENT DATA | Employment
|____________________________________________________
Nonfarm employment....| 131,619|p131,863| 131,789|p131,848|p131,953| p105
Goods-producing 1/..| 25,680| p25,624| 25,665| p25,642| p25,564| p-78
Construction......| 6,688| p6,736| 6,745| p6,738| p6,725| p-13
Manufacturing.....| 18,453| p18,347| 18,378| p18,363| p18,301| p-62
Service-producing 1/| 105,940|p106,240| 106,124|p106,206|p106,389| p183
Retail trade......| 23,189| p23,220| 23,193| p23,230| p23,238| p8
Services..........| 40,553| p40,768| 40,696| p40,764| p40,845| p81
Government........| 20,536| p20,448| 20,464| p20,412| p20,468| p56
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Hours of work 2/
|____________________________________________________
Total private.........| 34.4| p34.3| 34.4| p34.3| p34.1| p-0.2
Manufacturing.......| 41.5| p41.0| 41.4| p41.2| p40.4| p-.8
Overtime..........| 4.5| p4.3| 4.5| p4.3| p4.0| p-.3
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (1982=100) 2/
|____________________________________________________
Total private.........| 151.2| p151.2| 151.6| p151.5| p150.5| p-1.0
|________|________|________|________|________|_______
| Earnings 2/
|____________________________________________________
Avg. hourly earnings, | | | | | |
total private.......| $13.79| p$13.95| $13.88| p$13.96| p$14.01| p$0.05
Avg. weekly earnings, | | | | | |
total private.......| 474.03| p478.01| 477.47| p478.83| p477.74| p-1.09
______________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
1/ Includes other industries, not shown separately.
2/ Data relate to private production or nonsupervisory workers.
p=preliminary.
NOTE: Seasonally adjusted household data have been revised. See note on
page 5.
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had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not
counted as unemployed, however, because they had not actively searched for
work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged
workers was 265,000 in December. Discouraged workers, a subset of the
marginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically
because they believed no jobs were available for them. (See table A-10.)
Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 105,000 to 132.0 million in
December, seasonally adjusted. Private-sector employment grew by just
49,000, with overall growth held down by declines in manufacturing,
construction, and help supply services. Job growth continued in many
service industries, including health, social, computer, and engineering and
management services. (See table B-1.)
In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing employment fell by 62,000
in December, bringing its loss for the year to 178,000. Employment in
primary metals declined by 9,000 in December, partly reflecting 3,000
workers who were on strike and thus not on payrolls. Motor vehicles lost
8,000 jobs, as did rubber and miscellaneous plastics. Apparel and textiles
continued their long-term declines, losing 9,000 and 5,000 jobs,
respectively. Declines also occurred in several construction-related
industries, including lumber, furniture, and stone, clay, and glass
products.
Construction employment fell by 13,000 in December, affected for the
second month in a row by adverse weather. Employment in mining fell by
3,000.
In the service-producing sector, employment in services rose by 81,000
over the month. The average monthly increase in services over the October-
December period was 53,000, less than half the average posted in the first
9 months of the year. Help supply services lost 58,000 jobs in December,
its third consecutive monthly decline. Elsewhere, robust growth continued
in computer and data processing services, which added 16,000 jobs, as well
as in health services, which added 23,000 jobs. Employment also increased
in social services (21,000), engineering and management services (17,000),
and private education (21,000).
Employment in transportation and public utilities grew by 23,000 in
December. Within transportation, trucking and warehousing experienced its
first increase since July, adding 11,000 jobs. Air transportation
continued to grow, gaining 10,000 jobs in December, about the same number
as in November.
Employment in finance, insurance, and real estate rose by 19,000 in
December. Within finance, employment in depository institutions grew by
5,000, offsetting losses in the previous 2 months. Job growth in security
and commodity brokerages slowed in November and December, although the
industry has added 57,000 jobs over the year. Real estate added 7,000 jobs
in December, bringing its total job gain for the year to 26,000.
Retail trade employment showed little change in December, following an
increase in November. Over the year, retail employment increased by
302,000, compared with a gain of 427,000 in 1999. Employment in wholesale
trade was essentially unchanged in December. The over-the-year gain was
89,000, the smallest since 1993.
Government employment rose by 56,000 in December, after seasonal
adjustment. The large December gain reversed a decline of similar magnitude
in November. Both state and local government showed employment gains in
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December, after seasonal adjustment, reflecting fewer layoffs than usual.
Over the year, government employment grew by 160,000, half the prior-year
gain; the slowdown was most pronounced in state and local education.
Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)
The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on
private nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.2 hour in December to 34.1 hours,
seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek dropped sharply, falling
by 0.8 hour to 40.4 hours. In December, manufacturing overtime declined by
0.3 hour to 4.0 hours. (See table B-2.)
The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory
workers on private nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.7 percent to 150.5
(1982=100), seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing index fell by 2.4
percent to 101.8. (See table B-5.)
Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)
Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on
private nonfarm payrolls increased by 5 cents in December to $14.01,
seasonally adjusted. Reflecting the decline in hours, average weekly
earnings fell by 0.2 percent to $477.74. Over the year, average hourly
earnings rose by 4.2 percent and average weekly earnings grew by 3.0
percent. (See table B-3.)
______________________________
The Employment Situation for January 2001 is scheduled to be released on
Friday, February 2, at 8:30 A.M. (EST).
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Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data
At the end of each calendar year, BLS routinely updates the seasonal
adjustment factors for the labor force series derived from the Current
Population Survey (also referred to as the household survey) to incorporate
the experience of that year. This year, seasonally adjusted data for
January 1996-December 2000 were subject to revision. (Seasonally adjusted
establishment data will be revised in June, concurrent with the
introduction of annual benchmark adjustments.)
Table B summarizes the effects of the revisions on the overall
unemployment rate since January 2000. The rate was revised in only 2
months, in each case by 0.1 percentage point. Revised seasonally adjusted
data for major labor force series since December 1999 appear in table C.
The January 2001 issue of Employment and Earnings will contain the new
seasonal adjustment factors for major series for the January-June 2001
period. The publication also will contain a description of the current
seasonal adjustment methodology and revised data for the most recent 13
months or quarters for all regularly published tables containing seasonally
adjusted household survey data. Historical data for the household series
contained in the "A" tables of this release also can be accessed on the BLS
Internet site at (http://stats.bls.gov/cpsatabs.htm). Revised historical
seasonally adjusted monthly and quarterly data also are available on the
Internet at (ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf).
Table B. Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates and changes due
to revision, January-December 2000
---------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
Month and year | As first | As | Change
| computed | revised |
| | |
---------------------------------------------------------------
| | |
2000 | | |
| | |
January..............| 4.0 | 4.0 | .0
February.............| 4.1 | 4.1 | .0
March................| 4.1 | 4.0 | -0.1
April................| 3.9 | 4.0 | .1
May..................| 4.1 | 4.1 | .0
June.................| 4.0 | 4.0 | .0
July.................| 4.0 | 4.0 | .0
August...............| 4.1 | 4.1 | .0
September............| 3.9 | 3.9 | .0
October..............| 3.9 | 3.9 | .0
November.............| 4.0 | 4.0 | .0
December.............| 1/ 4.0 | 4.0 | .0
---------------------------------------------------------------
1/ Not published.
Planned Changes in the Household Survey Data
Effective with the release of data for January 2001, minor revisions
will be introduced into the population controls used for the household
survey. The changes will result in a slight downward shift in the
estimated total civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over for
January 2001. The changes will subtract approximately 15,000 from the
estimated population trend growth between December 2000 and January 2001.
The impact will vary for subpopulations such as men (+15,000), women
(-29,000), white (0), black (-60,000), Hispanic (-45,000) and non-Hispanic
(+30,000). These changes reflect the routine annual updating of
intercensal population estimates by the Bureau of the Census and do not
incorporate any information from the 2000 decennial census.
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HOUSEHOLD DATA HOUSEHOLD DATA
Table C. Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
1999 2000
Employment status,
sex, and age
Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
TOTAL
Civilian noninstitutional
population(1).......... 208,832 208,782 208,907 209,053 209,216 209,371 209,543 209,727 209,935 210,161 210,378 210,577 210,743
Civilian labor force.... 140,185 140,645 140,860 140,705 141,114 140,573 140,757 140,546 140,724 140,847 141,000 141,136 141,489
Participation rate... 67.1 67.4 67.4 67.3 67.4 67.1 67.2 67.0 67.0 67.0 67.0 67.0 67.1
Employed.............. 134,498 134,976 135,120 135,013 135,517 134,843 135,183 134,898 134,939 135,310 135,464 135,478 135,836
Employment-population
ratio............... 64.4 64.6 64.7 64.6 64.8 64.4 64.5 64.3 64.3 64.4 64.4 64.3 64.5
Unemployed............ 5,687 5,669 5,740 5,692 5,597 5,730 5,574 5,648 5,785 5,537 5,536 5,658 5,653
Unemployment rate... 4.1 4.0 4.1 4.0 4.0 4.1 4.0 4.0 4.1 3.9 3.9 4.0 4.0
Men, 20 years and over
Civilian noninstitutional
population(1).......... 92,052 92,057 92,092 92,145 92,303 92,408 92,546 92,642 92,754 92,863 92,969 93,061 93,117
Civilian labor force.... 70,572 70,777 70,952 70,773 70,776 70,662 70,785 70,782 71,029 71,053 71,155 71,135 71,289
Participation rate... 76.7 76.9 77.0 76.8 76.7 76.5 76.5 76.4 76.6 76.5 76.5 76.4 76.6
Employed.............. 68,235 68,440 68,577 68,445 68,473 68,315 68,489 68,495 68,710 68,728 68,774 68,683 68,848
Employment-population
ratio............... 74.1 74.3 74.5 74.3 74.2 73.9 74.0 73.9 74.1 74.0 74.0 73.8 73.9
Agriculture....... 2,246 2,285 2,283 2,240 2,248 2,228 2,262 2,280 2,276 2,350 2,219 2,122 2,232
Nonagricultural
industries....... 65,989 66,155 66,294 66,205 66,225 66,087 66,227 66,215 66,434 66,378 66,555 66,561 66,616
Unemployed............ 2,337 2,337 2,375 2,328 2,303 2,347 2,296 2,287 2,319 2,325 2,381 2,452 2,441
Unemployment rate... 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.4
Women, 20 years and over
Civilian noninstitutional
population(1).......... 100,666 100,579 100,666 100,713 100,809 100,929 101,007 101,111 101,209 101,321 101,448 101,533 101,612
Civilian labor force.... 61,204 61,462 61,488 61,573 61,856 61,582 61,561 61,535 61,265 61,486 61,528 61,625 61,819
Participation rate... 60.8 61.1 61.1 61.1 61.4 61.0 60.9 60.9 60.5 60.7 60.6 60.7 60.8
Employed.............. 58,981 59,209 59,285 59,326 59,651 59,264 59,282 59,273 58,992 59,344 59,425 59,506 59,708
Employment-population
ratio............... 58.6 58.9 58.9 58.9 59.2 58.7 58.7 58.6 58.3 58.6 58.6 58.6 58.8
Agriculture....... 802 826 854 866 871 846 829 797 808 764 748 797 822
Nonagricultural
industries....... 58,179 58,383 58,431 58,460 58,780 58,418 58,453 58,476 58,184 58,580 58,677 58,709 58,886
Unemployed............ 2,223 2,253 2,203 2,247 2,205 2,318 2,279 2,262 2,273 2,142 2,103 2,119 2,111
Unemployment rate... 3.6 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.8 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.4
Both sexes, 16 to 19 years
Civilian noninstitutional
population(1).......... 16,114 16,147 16,149 16,196 16,104 16,034 15,991 15,974 15,972 15,977 15,960 15,983 16,014
Civilian labor force.... 8,409 8,406 8,420 8,359 8,482 8,329 8,411 8,229 8,430 8,308 8,317 8,376 8,381
Participation rate... 52.2 52.1 52.1 51.6 52.7 51.9 52.6 51.5 52.8 52.0 52.1 52.4 52.3
Employed.............. 7,282 7,327 7,258 7,242 7,393 7,264 7,412 7,130 7,237 7,238 7,265 7,289 7,280
Employment-population
ratio............... 45.2 45.4 44.9 44.7 45.9 45.3 46.4 44.6 45.3 45.3 45.5 45.6 45.5
Agriculture....... 277 245 230 232 241 220 222 218 233 242 274 257 220
Nonagricultural
industries....... 7,005 7,082 7,028 7,010 7,152 7,044 7,190 6,912 7,004 6,996 6,991 7,032 7,060
Unemployed............ 1,127 1,079 1,162 1,117 1,089 1,065 999 1,099 1,193 1,070 1,052 1,087 1,101
Unemployment rate... 13.4 12.8 13.8 13.4 12.8 12.8 11.9 13.4 14.2 12.9 12.6 13.0 13.1
1 The population figures are not adjusted for seasonal variation.
NOTE: Beginning in January 2000, data reflect new composite estimation procedures and revised population controls used in the
household survey. Data have been revised based on the experience through December 2000.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
mailto:cpsinfo@bls.gov
Last modified:
Friday, January 05, 2001
URL: /news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
Table of Contents 
Labor Force Statistics from the Current
Population Survey