Job Losses Reach 159,000 in September

In the month of September, 2008 there was a net loss of 159,000 jobs in the United States. This number represents the largest number of lost jobs in five years. According to CNN Money it was the ninth month in a row that we saw job losses. In August there were 73,000 lost jobs, which is under half of September’s record breaking total that brought the year to date total to over three quarters of a million.

“Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast the loss of 105,000 jobs in the month. It was the largest monthly job loss total since March 2003, when payrolls were down 212,000, and the second-largest decline since the months that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in late 2001.

Job losses were again widespread. Manufacturing lost 51,000 jobs while construction employment shrank further by 35,000 jobs. But retailers also trimmed payrolls by 40,000 workers, and the leisure and hospitality industries cut 17,000 jobs.

Professional and business services, a catchall category seen by some as a proxy for overall economic activity, had a 27,000 drop in employment.

The only two major sectors to post gains were government, which added 9,000 jobs, and education and health services, in which employment grew by 25,000. Government hiring has stayed strong throughout the downturn, as the private sector has now lost nearly a million jobs since December, when employers started cutting back.”