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Total payroll employment up 160,000; service-providing up 174,000; goods-producing down 3,000

May 09, 2016

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 160,000 in April 2016. Over the prior 12 months, employment growth had averaged 232,000 per month. Employment in service-providing industries, such as professional and business services, health care, and financial activities, increased 174,000 in April. Offsetting these employment gains were job losses in goods-producing industries and government. Employment in goods-producing industries, such as construction, manufacturing, and mining, decreased 3,000. Government employment decreased 11,000.

Over-the-month change in nonfarm payroll employment, seasonally adjusted, January 2012 to April 2016
Month  Total nonfarm  Goods-producing
industries
Private
service-providing
industries
 Government 

Jan 2012

338,000 57,000 290,000 -9,000

Feb 2012

257,000 30,000 231,000 -4,000

Mar 2012

239,000 46,000 191,000 2,000

Apr 2012

75,000 14,000 76,000 -15,000

May 2012

115,000 -1,000 131,000 -15,000

Jun 2012

87,000 28,000 44,000 15,000

Jul 2012

143,000 33,000 127,000 -17,000

Aug 2012

190,000 8,000 166,000 16,000

Sep 2012

181,000 -5,000 185,000 1,000

Oct 2012

132,000 16,000 148,000 -32,000

Nov 2012

149,000 5,000 166,000 -22,000

Dec 2012

243,000 62,000 171,000 10,000

Jan 2013

190,000 36,000 167,000 -13,000

Feb 2013

311,000 79,000 218,000 14,000

Mar 2013

135,000 25,000 125,000 -15,000

Apr 2013

192,000 -5,000 198,000 -1,000

May 2013

218,000 21,000 204,000 -7,000

Jun 2013

146,000 26,000 147,000 -27,000

Jul 2013

140,000 -17,000 179,000 -22,000

Aug 2013

269,000 52,000 190,000 27,000

Sep 2013

185,000 43,000 136,000 6,000

Oct 2013

189,000 46,000 157,000 -14,000

Nov 2013

291,000 57,000 223,000 11,000

Dec 2013

45,000 -8,000 79,000 -26,000

Jan 2014

187,000 74,000 123,000 -10,000

Feb 2014

168,000 44,000 114,000 10,000

Mar 2014

272,000 56,000 205,000 11,000

Apr 2014

310,000 61,000 221,000 28,000

May 2014

213,000 19,000 196,000 -2,000

Jun 2014

306,000 43,000 224,000 39,000

Jul 2014

232,000 65,000 179,000 -12,000

Aug 2014

218,000 43,000 188,000 -13,000

Sep 2014

286,000 43,000 194,000 49,000

Oct 2014

200,000 38,000 152,000 10,000

Nov 2014

331,000 50,000 274,000 7,000

Dec 2014

292,000 64,000 215,000 13,000

Jan 2015

221,000 60,000 154,000 7,000

Feb 2015

265,000 16,000 236,000 13,000

Mar 2015

84,000 -20,000 110,000 -6,000

Apr 2015

251,000 21,000 220,000 10,000

May 2015

273,000 5,000 251,000 17,000

Jun 2015

228,000 -3,000 229,000 2,000

Jul 2015

277,000 14,000 231,000 32,000

Aug 2015

150,000 -23,000 146,000 27,000

Sep 2015

149,000 -12,000 174,000 -13,000

Oct 2015

295,000 31,000 273,000 -9,000

Nov 2015

280,000 53,000 226,000 1,000

Dec 2015

271,000 44,000 215,000 12,000

Jan 2016

168,000 24,000 131,000 13,000

Feb 2016

233,000 -20,000 242,000 11,000

Mar 2016(p)

208,000 0 184,000 24,000

Apr 2016(p)

160,000 -3,000 174,000 -11,000
Footnotes:

(p) Preliminary

Total nonfarm employment is the sum of goods-producing, private service-providing, and government employment.

Professional and business services added 65,000 jobs in April. This industry added an average of 51,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months. Job gains occurred in management and technical consulting services and in computer systems design and related services in April.

Health care employment rose by 44,000 in April, with most of the increase occurring in hospitals and ambulatory health care services. Over the year, health care employment has increased by 502,000.

Employment in financial activities rose by 20,000 in April, with credit intermediation and related activities contributing to the gain. Financial activities has added 160,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

Employment in other major service-providing industries, including wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, leisure and hospitality showed little or no change over the month.

Mining employment continued to decline in April, decreasing 7,000 over the month. Since reaching a peak in September 2014, employment in mining has decreased by 191,000.

Employment in construction and manufacturing was little changed in April.

Government employment changed little in April, decreasing 11,000. Most of the decrease was in federal government. Since January 2014, government has added 270,000 jobs; half of this employment gain has been in local government, excluding education.

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Data for the most recent 2 months are preliminary. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — April 2016" (HTML) (PDF). More charts featuring nonfarm employment data are in Current Employment Statistics Highlights: April 2015.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Total payroll employment up 160,000; service-providing up 174,000; goods-producing down 3,000 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/total-payroll-employment-up-160000-service-providing-up-174000-goods-producing-down-3000.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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