BLS Employment Situation News Release

The other day, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released an update on the current employment situation in the USA. In July, the number of unemployed persons was 14.5 million. The unemployment rate was 9.4 percent. Here are a few points:

• Employment in professional and business services continued to trend down in July (-38,000); the industry has shed 1.5 million jobs since the start of the recession.
• Financial activities employment continued to trend down in July (-13,000). The average monthly decline for this industry was 23,000 over the past 3 months compared with 46,000 per month from November through April. Since the start of the recession, the financial activities industry has lost 501,000 jobs. Employment in information declined by 16,000 in July, including losses in publishing and telecommunications.

Meanwhile, we see some positive changes in the healthcare sector:

• Health care employment increased by 20,000 in July, about in line with the average monthly gain for the first half of this year but down from an average monthly increase of 30,000 during 2008.

You sure you want to leave the clinical world of medicine?