July Statistics Indicate Unemployment Moderation, A “Good Sign,” Says Labor Bureau Commissioner

By Mariko Lamb, Talk Radio News Service

Keith Hall, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released data to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee Friday that indicated a moderation in unemployment, a “good sign” for economic improvement, he said.

According to the Bureau’s statistics, the unemployment rate remained relatively consistent at 9.4% in July. Job losses in wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing and financial activities industries continued, while losses in the hardest hit sectors, construction and manufacturing, increased. Employment in leisure and hospitality remained steady and health care employment increased, growing in line with the 2009 trend thus far.

Additional findings in the report show that minorities and the uneducated continue to suffer the most job losses, a trend that parallels unemployment statistics prior to the recession. “The trend is pretty much the same,” Hall said, “so when the overall unemployment rate goes up, it goes up by more for the minorities.”

Despite continued job loss, Hall said that the moderation in the past three months is a “good sign.” “While I would say we’re not in recovery yet, this is the path that we have to go through to get to recovery. We expect to see moderation first before we start actually getting improvement in the labor market,” he said.