Total non-farm payroll employment was little changed in February (-36,000). Job losses continued in construction and information, while employment continued to increase in temporary help services. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, payroll employment has fallen by 8.4 million.
Construction employment fell by 64,000 in February, about in line with the average monthly job loss over the prior six months. Since December 2007, employment in construction has fallen by 1.9 million.
Employment in the information industry dropped by 18,000 in February. Since December 2007, job losses in information have totaled 297,000.
Employment in manufacturing was essentially unchanged in February; retail trade was also unchanged in February, after a sizable increase in January.
In February, temporary help services added 48,000 jobs. Since reaching a low point in September 2009, temporary help services has risen by 284,000.
In February, employment in the Federal Government edged up. The hiring of 15,000 temporary workers for Census 2010 was partially offset by a decline in U.S. Postal Service employment.
These employment data is from the Current Employment Statistics program and are seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months is preliminary. Monthly revisions result from additional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — February 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-0256.
