Jobless rate at 9.7 pct.; 216,000 jobs lost

Nearly 15 million Americans are unemployed as the nation's fledgling recovery has yet to yield jobs, the Labor Department reported yesterday.

The unemployment rate climbed to 9.7 percent in August, even as the pace of job loss slowed. The nation's payrolls shed 216,000 jobs, less than forecast.

The unemployment rate is the highest since 1983, with one in three African American teens (ages 16 to 19) out of work - the hardest hit in any group.

Job loss continued across every sector except education and health services. In retail, even back-to-school promotions could not offset declines in employment. And particularly hard hit were construction, down 65,000 jobs in the summer building season, and manufacturing, down 63,000 jobs.

"The rush to cut workers has slowed, but we need some real growth before the job market will look good again," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors in Bucks County. "That is not to say payroll cuts in excess of 200,000 are good; they are not. But the trend is in the right direction, and that is what matters."

It may seem counterintuitive that a declining pace in job loss is accompanied by an increase in the unemployment rate.

But they are really separate numbers.

The unemployment rate depends on the interplay of two factors: the number of unemployed and the number of people in the workforce. The workforce consists of people who have jobs and people who actively searched for a job in the last month.

If people believe there is little chance of getting work or if they have personal situations (such as caring for newborns or elderly parents), they drop out of the workforce or enter at a slower rate.

In August, 73,000 people entered the workforce. At the same time, 466,000 joined the ranks of the unemployed. That means that the number of unemployed increased as a percentage of the nation's total workforce of 154.6 million.

The unemployment rate is a conservative number. Adding in employees who have settled for part-time work, or laid-off workers too discouraged to look actively for jobs, the rate of labor underutilization reached 16.8 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.

Yesterday's report may suggest that the economy is, if not improving, at least not declining at the same ferocious pace. But whatever the optimists say, Kevin Copening, 34, of West Philadelphia, isn't buying it.

"The economy is picking up now, people say, but I don't believe them so far, because I haven't found a company to work for yet," he said.

Copening had been working as a truck driver for various companies since 1998, and he started his last job in November 2007. By November 2008, he was laid off. "I was told the economy is slow," he said.

Indeed, 130,600 truck-transportation jobs have disappeared in the last year, including 4,000 in the last month, according to the Labor Department. Economists say transportation and warehouse jobs, which involve the movement of raw materials and finished products, are an indicator of the health of the economy.

Copening can also count himself as a member of two other growing groups. Like Copening, one-third of America's unemployed have been out of work for more than six months. A year ago, only one in five was looking for work after six months.

The unemployment rate among African American men is now 17 percent, one of the hardest-hit groups.

And because Copening is actively looking for work - he regularly visits the Philadelphia Unemployment Project support organization to use computers for his job search - he is not part of the growing group of people who want work but are not as actively seeking it.

The number of people who say they have slowed their job search because they are discouraged has nearly doubled in a year, to 758,000.

While the unemployed wait for the economy to improve, many seek temporary jobs, but those jobs are not available either.

Indeed, that sector, which is considered a leading indicator of employment recovery, has yet to stop shedding jobs. In the last year, 564,300 jobs have been lost in temporary employment, including 6,500 in August.

However, there may be some signs that this is changing. Stephen Emerson, chief executive of the Emerson Personnel Group, a temporary-staffing agency in Cherry Hill, said that since early July, he had noticed a pickup in orders for temporary administrative help.

"It is typical in the staffing and recruiting world that when the economy is starting to recover, the first call from client companies is for temporary administrative personnel," he said.

"This is primarily because, as workloads increase for companies, there is a need to get their work done," he said, "but companies are still somewhat skeptical about the recovery, so they bring on temporary folks."

Emerson said there had typically been a three- to four-month lag before increases in temporary hiring have led to increased permanent-job openings.

It can't happen soon enough for Copening. "It's frustrating being at home, then going every day to the computers and job-searching. Then you have to wait for the recruiters, and they put you on hold. They are taking apps, but they aren't hiring."

So far, he hasn't gotten too involved in the Philadelphia Unemployment Project's advocacy work, but another member, Andre Butler, 43, of Chestnut Hill, has.

An unemployed hospitality worker, Butler was laid off in May from his last job, as a Metro newspaper distributor.

"I don't see the economy making any changes unless the housing market gets straightened up and health care is fixed," said Butler, who turns out as a regular for protests and demonstrations to change foreclosure procedures and to push for health coverage for the unemployed.

Today he'll be volunteering at the Philadelphia Unemployment Project's second annual fund-raising "Race for Jobs," starting at 8 a.m. at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.