July 2014: number of discouraged workers decreased from last year

August 18, 2014

the monthly news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is continuing to hold steady at about 6.2 percent, with 9.7 million people unemployed. However, the biggest news is that as of July 2014, there are 247,000 fewer discouraged workers than there were in July of last year; there are currently 741,000 discouraged workers in the U.S., down from 988,000 in July 2013. (Discouraged workers are people that are unemployed and do not believe any jobs are available for them, so they are not looking for work.) Despite the overall unemployment rate remaining steady, 209,000 new jobs were added in non-farming roles last month.

  • More than 47,000 new jobs were added in professional and business services. Nine thousand of those new jobs were in architecture and engineering services.
  • Auto dealers, food and beverage establishments, and other retailers saw an increase of 27,000 jobs in July.
  • The construction industry saw 22,000 new jobs created, as did the mining industry, with 8,000 jobs.
Not every industry was so lucky in July, however.
  • While social assistance — which includes daycare for children and elderly assistance jobs — saw an increase of 18,000 jobs, the number of jobs available at nursing home facilities decreased by 6,000. There was little change in healthcare, despite an increase in jobs, because of the nursing care loss, as well as the loss of 7,000 hospital jobs.
  • The hospitality, trade, information, transportation, financial, and government sectors saw little change from last month.
These numbers are all nation-wide, but Business Insider recently released a list of states and how each one is doing economically. The evaluation ranks each state compared to the others, and includes information such as the state’s popular job industries, fluctuating pay rates, gross domestic product, and whether each state gained or lost jobs. For a more in-depth look at your local economy, it is a great resource.]]>

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