Washington – Bureau of Labor Statistics, February 6, 2009

Nonfarm payroll employment declined sharply in January, and the unemployment rate rose from 7.2% to 7.6% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Payroll employment fell by 598,000 over the month. In January, job losses were large and widespread across most major industry sectors. The number of unemployed persons increased to 11.6 million in January. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has grown by 4.1 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.7 percentage points.

The unemployment rates for most categories continued to trend upward for the month: adult men (7.6% from 7.2%), adult women (6.2% from 5.9%), whites (6.9% from 6.6%), blacks (12.6 % from 11.9%), and Hispanics (9.7% from 9.2%). The jobless rate for teenagers was unchanged at 20.8%.

The following sectors lost jobs in January

• Manufacturing employment fell by 207,000, the largest 1-month decline since October 1982.
• Construction lost 111,000 jobs.
• The temporary help industry lost 76,000 jobs.
• Retail trade employment fell by 45,000.
• Transportation and warehousing lost 44,000 jobs.
• Employment in financial activities declined by 42,000 and by 388,000 from a peak in December 2006.

Health care continued its upward trend in January with a gain of 19,000. Employment gains in the industry averaged over 30,000 per month in 2008. Employment in private education rose by 33,000 over the month.

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