e-EDGE is now available as an RSS feed. [Click here to subscribe to it.]According to the latest U.S. Labor Market Report, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. employment situation slowed somewhat during February. The Bureau’s survey of employers reported that total nonfarm job counts fell by -63,000 workers last month, the worst showing since March 2003. Over the past three months, U.S. employment has actually shrunk by -44,000 workers (or about -15,000 per month).
Government payrolls grew by 38,000 employees last month; so private-sector payrolls dropped by -101,000 jobs, the third consecutive monthly decline. Only three of the ten major industry groups reported higher job counts in February. The “plus” industries were education & health services (up by +30,000 jobs over the month), leisure & hospitality (+21,000 jobs), and information (just +1,000 jobs). The biggest payroll declines were reported by manufacturing (down by -52,000 jobs over the month), construction (-39,000 jobs), and retail (-34,000 jobs).
Compared with 12 months ago, nonfarm employers have added 860,000 workers to their payrolls, an increase of about 0.6%. Five private-sector industry groups reported higher payrolls over the year. The biggest job gainers were education & health services (+536,000 jobs), leisure & hospitality (+336,000 jobs), and professional & business services (+229,000 jobs, even though temporary help firms shed -104,000 workers over the year). The construction and manufacturing sectors continued in the red, falling by -299,000 jobs and -222,000 jobs respectively compared to February 2007. Note that residential construction employment has declined by -238,000 jobs over the year; so payrolls in nonresidential and heavy construction have grown by a combined +16,000 workers over the past twelve months.
According to the BLS survey of households, the U.S. unemployment rate edged down to 4.8% in February from 4.9% in January and 5.0% in December. The nation’s jobless rate was 4.5% in February 2007; so the unemployment rate has risen by just 0.3 percentage points over the past 12 months. Among the major demographic groups, the jobless rate for adult women has risen by +0.2 percentage points, while the rate for adult men was up by +0.3 percentage points and the rate for teenagers increased by +1.6 percentage points over the year. Meanwhile, the unemployment rates for whites, blacks and Asians all increased by +0.3 percentage points, while joblessness among Hispanic workers rose by +1.0 percentage point.
The nation’s jobless rate moved slowly in an irregular but upward direction during 2007, which may have paused temporarily early in 2008. Viewing the employment data, however, job counts are falling in many sectors of private industry, especially in those related to housing construction, automotive and apparel/textiles manufacturing, and mortgage finance. These sectors lost -58,000 jobs in February and have shed -524,000 workers over the past 12 months. The only sectors reporting employment gains are education & health care (which seem to grow no matter what happens in other parts of the economy), leisure & hospitality, and business services. Labor markets in the U.S. didn’t look particularly good in February, which doesn’t bode well for the economy. (Nancy D. Sidhu)
PR: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
Passenger flows at Southern California’s airports were on the soft side during January. At LAX, total traffic declined by 1.7% to 4.7 million persons, despite a 3.7% gain in international activity (to 1.45 million travelers). However, Los Angeles/Ontario International saw a 2.2% increase in passenger counts. International activity at the facility continued weak though, with a 33.8% drop in the passenger count. Palmdale Regional Airport handled 1,340 passengers during January.
Passenger traffic through the John Wayne/Orange County Airport declined by 5.9% over the year to January. At the Long Beach Airport, passenger traffic slipped by 3.6%. Activity was also down at Palm Springs International by 2.7%.
Air cargo numbers were also weak in January, with tonnage at LAX down by 7.2% while Ontario saw an 8.0% decline. Trends in international air freight were also soft, with total tonnage moved at LAX down by 0.1% over the year. Imports were up by 3.2%, while exports slipped down by 4.8%. At Ontario, business during January was definitely weak. Total international tonnage declined by 12.1%, with imports off by 10.5% and exports down by 15.6%. (Jack Kyser)
LAX data: http://www.lawa.org/lax/statistics/tcom-0108.pdf
ONT data: http://www.lawa.org/ont/statistics/tcom-0108.pdf
PSP data: http://www.palmspringsairport.com/documents/Jan08Air.pdf
LGB data: http://www.longbeach.gov/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=18023
SNA data: http://www.ocair.com/newsandfacts/newsreleases/2008/NR-2008-02-11.html
The total unsold new housing inventory in Southern California (including San Diego County) decreased by -3.8% year-over-year from 18,453 units at the end of 2006 to 17,756 units at the end of 2007, according to data compiled by the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California. The peak (we hope) was seen in mid-2007 at 18,552 total unsold new homes.
Builders in three counties reported rising inventories of unsold new homes. Orange County posted the highest annual growth with 1,386 (+35.2%) units of unsold new homes at the end of 2007. Most of these were attached homes. Los Angeles County also posted an increase, with 4,273 (+17.7%) units of unsold new homes, mostly attached homes as well. San Bernardino County’s inventory of unsold new homes was 1,981 units, up by 13.4%. Most of these were detached homes.
On the other hand, Ventura, Riverside, and San Diego counties posted year-over-year declines in unsold new housing inventory. At the end of 2007, Ventura County’s total unsold new homes declined to 428 units (-26.1%). Most of the unsold new homes were detached. Riverside County had 4,075 total unsold new homes, a decrease of -21.0% compared with the same period a year ago, again mostly detached homes. San Diego County’s unsold new homes also declined, down by -11.1% to a total of 5,613 units. Most of these were attached homes.
This is a bit of “good” news in a sense that the downward correction in new home construction is moving (though slowly) towards a more balanced housing market. The level of unsold new homes seen in 2007 is about as high as it was back in the first half of 1990. Clearly, the inventory adjustment has further to go. (Candice Flor Hynek)
According to PKF Consulting, the January hotel occupancy rate in San Francisco was 63.2% compared with 59.8% last year. The average daily room rate (ADR) rose by 2.2% to $180.93. The occupancy rate in San Jose/Peninsula eased to 64.9% compared with 66.9% in January 2007. However, operators were able to push up the ADR by 8.9% to $149.71, so revenue per room increased. (Jack Kyser)
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