Friday, January 7, 2005
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in December, with gains occurring in several service-providing industries. A total of 2.2 million jobs were added to payrolls in 2004. The unemployment rate was unchanged in December at 5.4 percent but was down from 5.7 percent a year earlier.
Among the major industry sectors, the largest job gain in December was in education and health services (47,000), principally in health care and social assistance. Overall, education and health services added 402,000 jobs in 2004.
Employment in professional and business services also was up in December. Within this sector, employment rose over the month in architectural and engineering services and in computer systems design. Over the year, professional and business services added 546,000 jobs. The temporary help industry accounted for about two-fifths of this increase, or 206,000 jobs. There also were substantial over-the-year gains in architectural and engineering services, computer systems design, and management and consulting services.
Employment in financial activities rose by 14,000 over the month and by 140,000 in 2004. Within this sector employment in the finance and insurance industry increased in December, mainly due to job growth in its credit intermediation component. Real estate employment was little changed in December. Over the year, employment in financial activities was buoyed by continued strength in the housing market. Credit intermediation added 64,000 jobs, and real estate gained 42,000.
Wholesale trade employment continued to trend up in December. Over the year, the industry added 97,000 jobs, with most of the gain in its durable goods and electronic market components. In retail trade, employment edged down in December after seasonal adjustment. Over the year, however, retailers added 169,000 jobs, with large gains in building material and garden supply stores and in clothing stores.
While government employment was little changed in December, the sector added 172,000 jobs in 2004. All of this growth occurred at the State and local levels, especially in education. At the Federal level, the U.S. Postal Service continued to shed jobs during the year, while employment in the rest of the Federal government was about unchanged.
In the goods-producing sector, construction employment was little changed in December. However, the industry added 258,000 jobs in 2004, reflecting the ongoing strength in homebuilding.
Manufacturing employment was about unchanged in December. For the first time since 1997, the number of factory jobs grew over a calendar year (up 76,000 in 2004) ; most of the growth occurred early in the year. In manufacturing, both the average workweek (40.5 hours) and factory overtime (4.5 hours) were unchanged in December.
Average hourly earnings for production or nonsupervisory workers rose by 2 cents in December, matching the increase in the prior month. Over the 12 months ending in December, hourly earnings increased by 2.7 percent.
Turning now to our survey of households, I would remind data users that this is the month in which we revise previously published seasonally adjusted estimates. Data going back 5 years--to January 2000--are subject to revision. All of the seasonally adjusted household data in today's news release reflect these revisions.
