Manufacturing Remains Stable in August US Jobs Data

Employment in manufacturing “changed very little” in August according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly release of data on domestic employment, while employment in mining continued to slip. The nation’s unemployment rate remained unchanged from July’s figure of 4.9%, or 7.8 million individuals.

“We are in the middle of the longest streak of overall job growth on record,” an upbeat statement on the August data from U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said, noting that 15.1 million jobs have been added to America’s economy since February 2010.

151,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added last month, with significant gains in professional and technical services employment, up by 20,000 jobs, and financial activities, which grew by 15,000 positions.

The average manufacturing employees workweek fell by 0.2% to 40.6 hours and the average amount overtime among manufacturing workers did not change from its previous figure of 3.3 hours.

4000 mining jobs were lost in August. Since September 2014, when employment in mining reached a peak, 223,000 jobs in that sector have been cut.