Source: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “The Employment Situation – January 2014″
The highest employment gains occurred in retail trade, construction, health care, financial activities and manufacturing, however, the unemployment rate saw little change, finishing at 5.7 percent. Taking a closer look at the industries, here are some key sector highlights from the BLS “The Employment Situation – January 2015” report:
RETAIL
Employment in retail rose by +45,900 in January. The largest three subsectors of retail accounted for over 50 percent of that gain – sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores (+8,500); motor vehicle and parts dealers (+7,700); and nonstore retailers (+6,300).
CONSTRUCTION
This industry reported +39,000 construction jobs added in January (6.3 million total workforce). Employment in both residential and nonresidential were up – +12,500 and +7,000 respectively. However, specialty trade contractors were up the highest with +13,300 jobs added. Construction continues to be on a strong surge upward, adding an average of +28,000 jobs per month over the past 12 months.
PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS SERVICES
Professional and Business Services continued to add jobs in January reporting a total of +39,000 new hires since December. Administrative and waste and support services were among the strongest subsectors with +18,400 total jobs added (17.1 million total workforce). Computer systems design services saw the second highest hike with +8,000 new jobs in January.
LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY
As the case has been for at least the past year, Leisure and Hospitality (15 million total workforce) has seen the majority of it’s sustainability come from food services and drinking places. +37,100 jobs were added in Leisure and Hospitality in January with a staggering +34,600 of those coming from food and beverage.
HEALTHCARE
Throughout January, health care employment saw an increase of +38,300 (14.9 million total workforce). Ambulatory health care services saw the largest employment gains with +21,700 jobs added, social assistance at +11,400 and hospitals at +9,600.
MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing employment increased by +22,000 over the month, including job gains in motor vehicles and parts, and wood products – +6,700 and +4,100 respectively. Over the prior 12 months, manufacturing has added +228,000 jobs (12.3 million of total workforce).
TEMPORARY HELP SERVICES
This Professional Services sub-sector is no longer on the rise after it’s 23-month-long reign – down -4,100 jobs from last month. While the temporary services department still contributes to 2.8 million jobs of the total workforce, that’s still slightly down from it’s past year average of 2.9 million.
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