A couple of noteworthy items from the release and the associated detailed monthly data.
- The private sector continues to add jobs (+4,000 between July and August) but public sector job losses (-1,900 during the same period) are partially offsetting these gains.
- Seasonally adjusted job gains were led by Leisure and Hospitality (up 19,300 jobs so far this year), Professional and Business Services (up 13,500 jobs in 2010) and Construction (up 1,600 since July and 3,200 year to date).
- Job losses were concentrated in Manufacturing (down 1,600 for the month but up 600 overall year to date), Information ( down 1,100 for the month but up 500 overall year to date) and Government (down 1,900 for the month but up 3,800 overall year to date)
- Government job losses were largely concentrated among federal employees (down 1,500 for the month) which likely reflects the continued impact of the layoffs of the pool of temporary workers hired for the decennial census.
1) These monthly data releases are notoriously volatile and subject to revision so, it is wise to not put too much stock in a single month's worth of data.
However, this report contained an upward revision of the July numbers (from +13,200 jobs to +15,200 jobs) and is the 7th consecutive month of net job growth....both very encouraging signs.
2) Given the continued sluggishness of the national and global economies, one can't help but wonder how long this can last. Eventually, the slowdown in key markets for Massachusetts goods and services has got to take at least some of the wind out of the sails of the state's recovery.
3) That said, corporate profits are approaching pre-recession levels and domestic investment in equipment and software still appears to be holding up as reflected in the national income and product accounts and the earnings reports for some of the leading technology firms.
Bottom line, this is undeniably very good news. The growth of construction employment is especially welcome as this sector has been hit especially hard in recent years.
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