Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Summary released today, the unemployment rate in the United States fell from 10.0% in December 2009 to 9.7% in January 2010, and nonfarm employment was essentially unchanged, with a loss of 20,000 jobs. Employment fell in construction and in transportation and warehousing, and temporary help services and retail trade added jobs.

CNN notes that, since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, 8.4 million jobs have evaporated from the U.S. economy, 1.4 million more jobs than previously believed! The revision came about because the U.S. government had been drastically underestimating the number of businesses that were closing as the result of the recession.

In January, the number of unemployed persons declined to 14.8 million, who have been jobless for an average of 30 weeks.

“In January, unemployment rates for most major worker groups–adult men (10.0 percent), teenagers (26.4 percent), blacks (16.5 percent), and Hispanics (12.6 percent)–showed little change. The jobless rate for adult women fell to 7.9 percent, and the rate for whites declined to 8.7 percent. The jobless rate for Asians was 8.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted.”

“In January, the unemployment rate of veterans from Gulf War era II (September 2001 to the present) was 12.6 percent, compared with 10.4 percent for nonveterans. Persons with a disability had a higher jobless rate than persons with no disability–15.2 versus 10.4 percent. In addition, the labor force participation rate of persons with a disability was 21.8 percent, compared with 70.1 percent for those without a disability. The unemployment rate for the foreign born was 11.8 percent, and the rate for the native born was 10.3 percent. (The data in these new tables are not seasonally adjusted.)”

The long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or longer) continued to trend upward in January, to 6.3 million. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of long-term unemployed has increased by 5 million.

The number of people who worked part time for economic reasons (sometimes called “involuntary part-time workers” decreased from 9.2 million to 8.3 million. These people worked part-time because their hours had been cut or because they had been unable to find a full-time job.

Around 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the workforce in January, an increase of 409,000 from a year earlier (not seasonally adjusted). They were not counted in the unemployed because they had not looked for work in the four weeks that preceded the survey. Among the marginally attached were 1.1 million discouraged workers, up from 734,000 a year earlier. Discouraged workers do not believe that jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million persons who were marginally attached to the workforce had not looked for work in the four weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Various job categories showed the following changes in January:

“Construction employment declined by 75,000 in January, with nonresidential specialty trade contractors (-48,000) accounting for the majority of the decline. Since December 2007, employment in construction has fallen by 1.9 million.

In January, transportation and warehousing employment fell by 19,000, due to a large job loss among couriers and messengers (-23,000).

Employment in manufacturing was little changed in January (11,000). After experiencing steep job losses earlier in the recession, employment declines moderated considerably in the second half of 2009. In January, job gains in motor vehicles and parts (23,000) and plastics and rubber products (6,000) offset small job losses elsewhere in the industry.

In January, temporary help services added 52,000 jobs. Since reaching a low point in September 2009, temporary help services employment has risen by 247,000.

Retail trade employment rose by 42,000 in January, after showing little change in the prior 2 months. Job gains occurred in January among food stores (14,000), clothing stores (13,000), and general merchandise retailers (10,000).

Health care employment continued to trend up in January. Ambulatory health care services added 15,000 jobs over the month.

In January, the federal government added 33,000 jobs, including 9,000 temporary positions for Census 2010. Employment in state and local governments, excluding education, continued to trend down.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was revised from 4,000 to 64,000, and the change for December was revised from -85,000 to -150,000.”

“There were signs in January’s report that the worst of the labor decline is largely over, and many businesses are beginning to hire again.”

-Bill at

Cheshire Cat Photo™ – “Your Guide to California’s Wonderland™”

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! Framed prints and prints on canvas can be ordered from our galleries on imagekind® and redbubble®. All four locations are accessible from here. If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

©2010 William F. Hackett. All Rights Reserved.