![]() | Pacific ViewsYou've been had. You've been took. You've been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok. - Malcolm X |
These are some figures from the May Employment Situation Summary. The 2003 data is added in from the archives. All numbers in the tables are in thousands, unless they indicate percentages.
Category |
Quarterly averages |
Monthly Data |
Apr. - May |
||||||
2003 |
2004 1/ |
2004 |
|||||||
I |
II |
III |
IV |
I |
Mar. |
Apr. |
May |
||
Household Data |
Labor force status |
||||||||
Civilian labor force |
145,829 |
146,685 |
146,628 |
146,986 |
146,661 |
146,650 |
146,741 |
146,974 |
233 |
-Employment |
137,430 |
137,638 |
137,647 |
138,369 |
138,388 |
138,298 |
138,576 |
138,772 |
196 |
-Unemp. |
8,399 |
9,047 |
8,981 |
8,616 |
8,273 |
8,352 |
8,164 |
8,203 |
39 |
Not in labor force |
74,280 |
74,090 |
74,885 |
75,290 |
75,695 |
75,900 |
76,016 |
75,993 |
-23 |
Unemployment Rates |
|||||||||
All workers |
5.8 |
6.2 |
6.1 |
5.9 |
5.6 |
5.7 |
5.6 |
5.6 |
0.0 |
Persons not in the labor force are defined in part as, "individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey." The report states that the number of discouraged workers has stayed roughly the same over the past year.
After dividing the the number of employed people by the total number of people counted (labor force + not in labor force), another row can be added to the table, representing employment as a percentage of the work eligible population. The following is me playing with the numbers, not an official table:
Category |
Quarterly averages |
Monthly Data |
|||||||
2003 |
2004 |
2004 |
|||||||
I |
II |
III |
IV |
I |
Mar. |
Apr. |
May |
||
Household Data |
Labor force status |
||||||||
% Employment overall |
62.4 |
62.3 |
62.1 |
62.2 |
62.2 |
62.1 |
62.2 |
62.2 |
Here's the 1997-1998 data, aggregated from the archives, with my extra row added to represent percentage of employment overall:
Category |
Quarterly averages |
||||||||
1997 |
1998 |
||||||||
I |
II |
III |
IV |
I |
II |
III |
IV |
||
Household Data |
Labor force status |
||||||||
Civilian labor force |
135,934 |
136,157 |
136,379 |
136,813 |
137,524 |
137,351 |
137,656 |
138,285 |
|
-Employment |
128,728 |
129,462 |
129,723 |
130,421 |
131,080 |
131,349 |
131,419 |
132,166 |
|
-Unemp. |
7,206 |
6,695 |
6,656 |
6,392 |
6,444 |
6,002 |
6,237 |
6,120 |
|
Not in labor force |
66,462 |
66,678 |
66,988 |
67,123 |
66,871 |
67,554 |
67,827 |
67,813 |
|
Unemployment Rates |
|||||||||
All workers |
5.3 |
4.9 |
4.9 |
4.7 |
4.7 |
4.4 |
4.5 |
4.4 |
|
% Employment overall |
63.6 |
63.8 |
63.7 |
63.9 |
64.1 |
64.1 |
63.9 |
64.1 |
The overall average percentage of jobs/work eligible people for the two years, 1997 and 1998, was 63.9%. The average for the five quarters of Bush data here is 62.2%. From what I'm looking at, it isn't trending upward dramatically, but rather creeping back towards what it was in the first quarter of last year and essentially flat for months now.
The difference between the 1997-1998 average and the 2003-4 average is 1.7%. Based on the total work eligible population in the first quarter of 2004, that measly 1.7% represents around 3.78 million jobs. In terms of the May work eligible population, that's around 3.79 million jobs.
Bill, we're really, really sorry. Please come back.
Posted by natasha at July 2, 2004 09:35 AM | Economy | Technorati links |Really nice data and presentation, natasha. And definitely a sign of the deteriorated job market. Lots of people in those numbers.
Posted by: Mary at July 3, 2004 04:55 AM