April 08, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Fewer job losses in manufacturing

Manufacturing job losses continued last month, but the decline of 38,000 in March—and that of 54,000 in February—were much smaller than in previous months. From January 2001 to January 2002, job losses in the nation's factories averaged 111,000 a month.

[Chart data—TXT]

Over the month, employment in electronic equipment and in industrial machinery decreased by 10,000 and 7,000, respectively, much smaller than their average losses over the past year. Several manufacturing industries had small employment gains in March after many months of losses—stone, clay, and glass (2,000), primary metals (2,000), and rubber and miscellaneous plastics (4,000).

Payroll employment data are products of the Current Employment Statistics program. Data for February and March 2002 are preliminary and subject to revision. For more information, see The Employment Situation: March 2002, news release USDL. 02-195.