Jobs Numbers: Breakdown by Sector

The US economy lost 95,000 jobs in September, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.6 percent. The small growth in the private sector, with 64,000 jobs added in September, was offset by the large cuts in government workers, down 159,000.

During the recession, the peak of losses was 779,000 lost jobs in January 2009, compared to the 2001 recession, when monthly losses hit a high of 325,000. The 1990-91 recession peaked at 306,000 losses -numbers generally peak toward the end of a recession, making employment a lagging indicator. Note that the unemployment rate peaked at 10.8% at the end of the 1981-82 recession.

Here is a breakdown of the jobs report by sector.

Total change in non-farm payroll = - 95,000

• Private Sector = + 64,000
• Logging & Mining = + 5,000
• Construction = - 21,000
• Manufacturing = - 6,000
• Durable goods = Unchanged
• Non-durable goods = - 6,000
• Services = + 86,000
• Wholesale Trade = + 2,200
• Retail Trade = + 5,700
• Transportation & Warehousing = + 9,600
• Information Technology = - 5,000
• Financial Svcs = - 1,000
• Professional & Business Svcs = + 14,000
• Education & Health Svcs = + 17,000
• Leisure = + 38,000
• Government = - 159,000

The futures are trading down on the news.

Comments? Send them to [e-mail]