Companies Keeping Older Workers as Economy Slows

663,000 jobs were lost in the USA in March and the unemployment rate rose from 8.1 to 8.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, with almost two-thirds (3.3 million) of the decrease occurring in the last 5 months. In March, job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in March, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7%, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys. Hiring for the census added 48,000 jobs in March, a large temporary increase, but less than expected amount, for the month. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from -26,000 to +14,000, and the change for February was revised from -36,000 to -14,000 together this results in an addition of 90,000 jobs.

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in June (by 467,000), and the unemployment rate increased to changed at 9.5% (with a total of 14.7 million unemployed), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Job losses were widespread across the major industry sectors, with large declines occurring in manufacturing, professional and business services, and construction.

In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Obama sought to "embrace manufacturing". Since the President has been in office for three years now, we thought we would take a look at how well he's done so far in embracing manufacturing, by his own terms.

There's always plenty that the headline labour market figures leave out. This month I'm tempted to say they miss the story entirely. When you look at the big picture - it looks like not very much is happening to jobs in the UK. The broader measure of unemployment is moderately higher than a year ago, but so is employment. And the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance has actually fallen by 8 per cent in the past year. But there is plenty going on behind those headline totals, with stark consequences for different parts of our society.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 192,000 in February, and the unemployment rate decreased to 8.9%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and business services, health care and transportation. Revisions also added 58,000 jobs added in the previous two months. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised from +121,000 to +152,000, and the change for January was revised from +36,000 to +63,000.

The chart above displays monthly employment levels by gender back to 2002, and th