BLS:
Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (-36,000) in February, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction and information, while temporary help services added jobs. Severe winter weather in parts of the country may have affected payroll employment and hours; however, it is not possible to quantify precisely the net impact of the winter storms on these measures. For more information on the effects of the severe weather on employment estimates, see the box note at the end of the release.
By the numbers:
NFP -36,000
-Unemployment Rate (U3) unchanged at 9.7%
-Underemployed (U6) 16.8%
-Unemployed persons unchanged at 14.9 million
-Long-term Unemployed (jobless 27 weeks+) 6.1 million
Note: This category includes about 40% of unemployed people
-Civilian labor force participation rate (64.8%) and Employment-population ratio (58.5%) were each unchanged
-Total Recession job losses (since December 2007) are 8.4 million
-The average workweek (Hours worked) declined by 0.1 hour to 33.8 hours (This was most likely the biggest impact of the snow storms effect)
-Temporary help services added 48,000 jobs. This is the 7th consecutive month of temp help gains; Since the low in September 2009, temp help employment has risen by
284k.
-Revisions: December ’09 revisions improved from -150,000 to -109,000; January revised downward from -20,000 to -26,000.
Generally, Construction employment fell (64,000), Manufacturing and Retail were unchanged,
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UPDATE: March 5, 2010 10:55am
The Birth Death data finally updated — it was +97k vs a +134k in February 2009 . . .
CES Net Birth/Death Model
http://www.bls.gov/web/cesbd.htm
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