February 2013 Unemployment Report

February 2013
Unemployment Rate:             7.7 percent
Unemployed Americans:     12.0 million

“Real” Unemployment    

• The “real” unemployment or U-6 rate is 14.3 percent for February 2013. This is the total percentage of unemployed and underemployed workers. 

• The “real” number of unemployed Americans is 22.6 million. These are people who are unemployed (12.0 million), want work but have stopped searching for a job (2.6 million), or are working part time because they can’t find full time employment (8.0 million).

Labor Force Participation    

• The labor force participation rate is 63.5 percent, a decrease of 0.1 compared to last month. If the labor force participation rate were the same as when the President took office, the unemployment rate would be 10.7 percent.

Employment    

• The Department of Labor reported an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent for February 2013, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points, reporting an increase of 236,000 nonfarm jobs.

• President Obama promised an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent by this time.

• The Department of Labor revised total nonfarm jobs for December 2012 and January 2013. The December numbers were revised up from +196,000 to +219,000. The January numbers were revised down from +157,000 to +119,000.

• Employment increased in professional and business services (+73,000), construction (+48,000) and health care (+32,000). Employment in government declined (-10,000).

• Information collected by the Federal Reserve indicates that health care reform continues to have an impact on hiring across the country. The Beige Book which gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions from across the country reported earlier this week that employers in many Federal Reserve Bank districts cited the Affordable Care Act as reason for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff, in addition to restrained sales growth. Specifically, the Richmond Fed reports that employers in its area continue to cite the Affordable Care Act and its unknown impacts as reason for layoffs and reluctance to hire. The Dallas Fed reports concern that client companies are hiring the absolute minimum to get by due to uncertainty with the Affordable Care Act. 

• Today’s unemployment rate of 7.7 percent is the lowest monthly rate during the entire Obama Administration. As shown below, the monthly unemployment rate has been hovering around 8 percent for over a year, spiking as high as 10.0 percent in October 2009.

Weeks, Hours & Wages

• Long-term unemployed still hurting. The number of Americans searching for work for more than 27 weeks is 4.8 million, an increase of 0.1 million compared to last month. The average number of weeks a worker is unemployed is 36.9 weeks, compared to 35.3 weeks last month. Those out of work for 27 weeks or more now account for 40.2 percent of the unemployed.

• The average work week for private nonfarm employees increased by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours.

• The average hourly private nonfarm payroll increased by four cents to $23.82. Year over year hourly earnings have risen just 2.1 percent. Consumer Price Index is up 1.6 percent.