Manufacturing employment decreased by 17,000 in August, while employment in wholesale trade rose slightly, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wholesale trade added 7,800 jobs in August, continuing the slow-growth trajectory it has followed for the last several months.
Overall, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 173,000 in August, and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.1 percent.
Manufacturing job losses occurred in a number of component industries, including fabricated metal products and food manufacturing (-7,000 each). These losses more than offset gains in motor vehicles and parts (+6,000) and in miscellaneous durable goods manufacturing (+4,000). Thus far this year, overall employment in manufacturing has shown little net change.
Employment in mining fell in August (-9,000), with losses concentrated in support activities for mining (-7,000). Since reaching a peak in December 2014, mining employment has declined by 90,000.
Employment in other major industries, including construction, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and government, showed little change over the month.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) held at 2.2 million in August and accounted for 27.7 percent of the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed is down by 779,000.
In August, 1.8 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, down by 329,000 from a year earlier. These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.
