October 6, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Changes in payroll employment by industry, September 2008

Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 159,000 in September. Thus far in 2008, payroll employment has fallen by 760,000. Over the month, employment continued to decline in manufacturing, construction, and retail trade. Health care and mining continued to add jobs in September.

[Chart data—TXT]

Manufacturing employment fell by 51,000 over the month, bringing the decline in factory jobs to 442,000 over the past 12 months. In September, job losses continued in motor vehicles and parts; this industry has shed 140,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

Employment in retail trade dropped by 40,000 in September and by 250,000 over the last 12 months. Department stores lost 11,000 jobs in September and 70,000 over the last 12 months.

Construction lost 35,000 jobs over the month. Thus far this year, all of the components of construction have experienced employment declines; the majority of the losses have been in the residential components.

In September, employment in financial activities fell by 17,000, with nearly half of the decline occurring in securities and investment firms. The financial activities industry has lost 172,000 jobs since its employment peak in December 2006.

Health care employment continued to increase in September with a gain of 17,000. Job growth in the industry averaged 30,000 a month over the prior 12 months.

In September, employment also continued to grow in mining. Mining employment has expanded by 241,000 since reaching a low in April 2003.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Learn about recent trends in U.S. employment and unemployment in "The Employment Situation: September 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1367.