February 2015: mining industry sees decrease in jobs, unemployment rate continues to drop

the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate has decreased slightly since January. The unemployment rate is now 5.5 percent, leaving 8.7 million people out of work. In February, 295,000 new jobs were added across several fields, including healthcare, food and drinking establishments and business services. Only an average of 266,000 jobs were created per month over the previous year. Fifty-nine thousand new jobs were added in food and drink places last month, which is significantly higher than the monthly average of 35,000 new jobs over the previous year. Likewise, retail trade saw 32,000 new jobs in February, up from its monthly average of about 26,000 jobs over the last 12 months. Professional and business services saw 51,000 new jobs. Some of the sectors that saw increases were architectural and engineering services and computer systems design services (5,000 jobs each), as well as management and technical consulting services (7,000 new jobs). Construction saw 29,000 new jobs in February, with the bulk of them being specialty trade contractor positions. Healthcare saw 24,000 jobs added, primarily in ambulatory care services. (For the healthcare industry, February had a slight dip in new jobs compared to the monthly average for the previous year.) The number of jobs available for those in the mining and manufacturing industries dropped this month, however, as support for miners decreased, and as strikes within the manufacturing industry decreased petroleum- and coal-related jobs. Overall, manufacturing continued to trend up and saw 8,000 new jobs in the industry, despite the job losses (approximately 6,000). Mining jobs decreased by 9,000 positions. Trade, financial services, and government sectors saw little change in February.]]>