Payroll employment declined again in December

Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 124,000 in December, seasonally adjusted. Since the recession began in March, the number of nonfarm payroll jobs has declined by 1.4 million.

[Chart data—TXT]

In December, large declines continued in manufacturing, air transportation, retail trade, and help supply services. Employment increased in health services, private education, and government.

Manufacturing employment fell by 133,000 in December, bringing the total drop for the year to 1.3 million. Over the month, nearly every manufacturing industry continued to lose jobs.

Employment fell sharply in air transportation (-26,000) in December. Retail trade employment decreased by 77,000. This was the fifth consecutive monthly decline in retail trade employment. Help supply services, which provides workers to other industries, continued to experience significant employment declines, with a loss of 55,000 jobs.

Job gains continued in health services; the industry added 31,000 jobs over the month. Educational services also had a strong employment gain in December (28,000). Government employment increased by 63,000.

Payroll employment data are products of the Current Employment Statistics program. Data for November and December 2001 are preliminary and subject to revision. For more information, see The Employment Situation: December 2001, news release USDL. 02-03.