Why is this Topic Important to Wealth Managers? This blogticle presents discussion regarding the unemployment situation here in the United States. The unemployment data is generally used as one indication of economic conditions. Thus, we have presented the most recent unemployment figures for wealth managers to use when considering planning for clients.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last Friday. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, leisure and hospitality, and mining. Employment in manufacturing also continued to trend up.

The number of unemployed persons (13.5 million) and the unemployment rate changed little in March. The labor force also was little changed over the month. Since November 2010, the jobless rate has declined by 1.0 percentage point.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (8.6 percent), adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (24.5 percent), whites (7.9 percent), blacks (15.5 percent), and Hispanics (11.3 percent) showed only minor change in March.

The number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, at 8.2 million, was little changed in March but has fallen by 1.3 million since November 2010. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was 6.1 million in March; their share of the unemployed increased from 43.9 to 45.5 percent over the month.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was also little changed in March, at 8.4 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

Moreover, there were 921,000 discouraged workers in March, also not a significant change from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

Job gains occurred in several service-providing industries and in mining, and manufacturing employment continued to trend up. Since a recent low in February 2010, total payroll employment has grown by 1.5 million.

In March, employment in the service-providing sector continued to expand, led by a gain of 78,000 in professional and business services. Most of the gain occurred in temporary help services (+29,000) and in professional and technical services (+35,000).

Health care employment continued to increase in March (+37,000). Over the last 12 months, health care has added 283,000 jobs, or an average of 24,000 jobs per month.

Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 37,000 over the month, with more than two-thirds of the increase in food services and drinking places (+27,000).

In addition, manufacturing employment continued to trend up in March (+17,000). Job gains were concentrated in two durable goods industries–fabricated metal products (+8,000) and machinery (+5,000). Employment in durable goods manufacturing has risen by 243,000 since its most recent low in December 2009.

Finally, in March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls were unchanged at $22.87. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.7 percent. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged down by 2 cents over the month to $19.30.

Tomorrow’s blogticle will discuss wealth management planning techniques.

We invite your opinions and comments by posting them below, or by calling the Panel of Experts.

Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, Health care, Nonfarm payrolls, Percentage, Report, Unemployment, United States

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