We've Lost 8 Million Jobs. Here's A Closer Look.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

by Jacob Goldstein

The recession ended more than a year ago, but the jobs picture is still very bleak.

There are about 130 million non-farm jobs in this country, according to the employment numbers out this morning. That's down from nearly 138 million in December of '07, when the recession began.

Those job losses have been spread unevenly around the economy, as the graph above makes clear. Here's a closer look at some of the categories.

Manufacturing was losing jobs even before the recession began — and the sector got hammered in '08 and '09, before stabilizing in the past year.

Construction was, of course, at the heart of the boom and bust. The industry lost a ton of jobs in the early part of the recession. In the past year, the decline continued, albeit at a slower pace, with a loss of about 200,000 jobs since Sept. of '09.

Administration and support services is largely made up of temp. jobs, which fell sharply during the recession, but have made a comeback in the past year.

Finance and real estate is the white-collar counterpart to construction — a key player in the boom and bust that lost a lot of jobs during the recession, and cut jobs at a slower pace over the past year.

States and local governments have been been cutting jobs this year, even as jobs in the private sector have begun to stabilize. For local governments, that includes cuts to education. Between August and September alone, local governments cut 76,000 workers — including nearly 50,000 people who work in education.

Private education, on the other hand, has been growing. (Note that this sector includes private non-profit as well as for-profit schools.) Education is often thought of as counter-cyclical: It tends to do well when the broader economy is doing badly, as people who are out of work or nervous about losing their job go back to school to pick up new skills.

The federal government, unlike states and cities, can run a deficit — and it's been borrowing furiously and adding jobs. *Note that the figure in the graph above does not include the U.S. Postal Service, which is self-financed, and which has cut more than 130,000 jobs since December of '07.

Health care is the big winner for jobs. It's added jobs month after month, driven by the aging population, steady funding from government programs such as Medicare, and the fact that sick people spend money on medical care in good times and bad.

For more: Here's a complete list of the latest job numbers, by sector. There's a huge amount of data — going back further, and in much more detail — available here.

http://www.npr.org/t...oryId=130406366

[spookyturtle 9,466]

The recession ended a year ago, but we're still losing jobs. And that's progress?

[Heracles 417]

The recession ended a year ago, but we're still losing jobs. And that's progress?

Your industry has been hit the second hardest. haha Fail!

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Health Care is about to start going down too the moment Obamacare takes full effect....

[Heracles 417]

Health Care is about to start going down too the moment Obamacare takes full effect....

Actually, they will need thousands more people to cater for the surge in demand. Anyone who is considering a new career, should seriously think of health care.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Actually, they will need thousands more people to cater for the surge in demand. Anyone who is considering a new career, should seriously think of health care.

Quite true. Health care and related fields are still growing and in demand.

[Heracles 417]

Quite true. Health care and related fields are still growing and in demand.

Lets hope certain Liberteapartians do not enter the field, they'll allow cyanide to be used, because it's cheaper; then blame the government and Obama.

Edited October 9, 2010 by Heracles

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Radiology techs, nurses, health care aides and many other positions are in demand.

[Ban Hammer 13,360]

The recession ended a year ago, but we're still losing jobs. And that's progress?

it's still bush's fault!

[spookyturtle 9,466]

it's still bush's fault!

Just for a little longer.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Maybe Hillary can do something about this once she becomes President.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Maybe Hillary can do something about this once she becomes President.

The first female President might be Palin.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Lets hope certain Liberteapartians do not enter the field, they'll allow cyanide to be used, because it's cheaper; then blame the government and Obama.

yes, because people who enter the health care field are there just to kill off other people..... While I don't doubt there's a few already, you're being a bit absurd now.

[alienlovechild 75]

Radiology techs, nurses, health care aides and many other positions are in demand.

In the short term, there aren't many nursing jobs out there if you don't have at least of 1 year of experience. My wife has her RN license and still can't find a job after 4 months. She wants to apply for waitress job but I told her that's a waste of time and we still have a kid to care for.

"Even as a national nursing shortage looms, many newly graduated registered nurses can't find jobs because the recession has delayed retirement of experienced nurses, regulators and health care associations say. Those who find work often can't get the better-paying hospital positions they'd hoped for and instead are turning to nursing homes, home health care or other settings, says Carylin Holsey, president of the National Student Nurses' Association.

An advisory for new grads published by the association warns that the market is "flooded" with experienced RNs who have come out of retirement, delayed retirement or gone from part-time to full-time employment because of the recession.

The nursing job market tightened noticeably last year. A June 2009 survey by the association of 2,112 spring RN graduates found 44% hadn't yet landed a nursing job.

In metro Cincinnati, the job market for RNs is the tightest in the 20 years that a hospital workforce survey has been conducted by the Greater Cincinnati Health Council, says the council's Mary Duffey. "Our May students are not finding positions."

In Arizona, the expansion has more than doubled the new nurses entering the state's workforce each year, from 1,254 graduates in 2002 to 2,805 in 2009, says Pamela Randolph, associate director at the Arizona State Board of Nursing. About 21% of new Arizona RNs licensed in the past year lacked nursing jobs, according to a board survey released in May. The most often cited reason: "Not enough jobs for new RN grads in the area."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-07-09-1Anurses09_ST_N.htm

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Come to Boston.