August 2014 employment: job creation stagnant in several industries

a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, August didn’t bring much good news for job seekers across several large industries. Those industries — including manufacturing, financial, government, transportation and trade — remained essentially unchanged from July as far as new jobs created. In addition, the number of retail jobs available actually decreased, thanks to a large loss of food store jobs in the northeast. But it wasn’t all bad news. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 6.1 percent in August, and the number of unemployed people is still 9.6 million. Over the past 12 months, the unemployment rate has dropped by 1.1 percent. The number of people who have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks also declined in August, with 192,000 fewer people considered long-term unemployed. In addition, the average hourly wage rose in August to $24.53, an increase of 6 cents per hour. Approximately 142,000 new non-farm jobs were added in other industries in August, though this is still a decrease from the average monthly job gain over the previous 12 months (212,000 jobs per month). The new jobs available include: 47,000 positions in professional and business services, most of them administrative or support jobs; 34,000 healthcare positions, including new doctors and hospital positions; 22,000 jobs in food services; and 20,000 new construction jobs, particularly those for specialty contractors.]]>