November 7, 2008

October Labor Report Released and Revised to Show Previous Months’ True Losses

The October Labor Report was released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and shows the highest unemployment rate since March 1984. This new finding is not only due to job losses in October but new data shows more than 179,000 jobs were cut in August and September than was originally calculated.

Job losses continued the trend from the beginning of the year in manufacturing, construction, and several service-providing industries. As reported in our blog regarding the August Labor Report, industries related to alternative energy resources such as mining have continued to grow.

Many previously cut full-time employees are now turning to part-time jobs either because they cannot find full time work or their hours have been scaled back. This shows a rise of 645,000 part-time employees from September totaling in 6.7 million for October. There has been a 2.3 million increase in part-time employees over the past 12 months.

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