August Unemployment Rate Improves — Gallup
The latest Gallup tracking survey on US unemployment puts the unadjusted US unemployment rate at 8.1% in August, down from 8.2% in July, and sharply down from 9.2% in August of 2011. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Gallup survey…
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The underemployment rate remained flat in August, at an unadjusted rate of 17.1%, equal to July’s reading and the lowest number Gallup has recorded since it began its tracking survey in 2010. The number of part-time workers seeking full-time employment rose slightly to 9% in August, down from 9% in August 2011.
The percentage of workers with full-time employment for an employer remained near July’s all-time high of 66.6% at 66.5%. The workforce participation rate rose from 67.6% in July to 68.1% in August. Last August the participation rate was 67.4%.
Gallup concludes that tomorrow’s report from the Labor Department on non-farm payrolls will remain flat at best, showing a US unemployment rate of 8.2%. The survey concludes:
The decline in unemployment seen earlier in the year has not been sustained, with unadjusted unemployment flat over the past three months. Although there is no longer a net loss of jobs, employers are not adding enough jobs to dramatically reduce the unemployment rate.
Paul Ausick
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.