September 09, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Payroll employment in August 2008

Total nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in August, decreasing by 84,000. Thus far in 2008, payroll employment has declined by 605,000, an average loss of 76,000 per month.

[Chart data—TXT]

In August, employment fell in manufacturing (especially in motor vehicles and parts manufacturing) and employment services (especially in temporary help services).

Health care employment continued to grow in August, with more than half of the gain in hospitals.

Employment in mining also increased in August, with gains occurring in all the component industries. Over the past 12 months, job growth has been especially strong in support activities for mining and in oil and gas extraction.

These data are from the BLS Current Employment Statistics program, and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months are preliminary. More information can be found in "The Employment Situation: August 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1252.

Related TED article:

• Unemployment in August 2008