Industrial Analysis

by Jerry Brown
April 2011

Monthly analysis is based on seasonally adjusted employment data.
Yearly analysis is based on unadjusted employment data.*

Overview

March 2011 employment estimates showed a gain of 2,800 jobs. This was the third consecutive month of job growth. The net increase for the three months is modest at 7,300, or about 2,400 per month. Six of 11 supersectors posted growth for the month with the largest gain in leisure and hospitality, up 1,900. Other large gains came in educational and health services, up 1,500, and construction, up 1,200. Of the five supersectors posting a loss, the decline in professional and business services was by far the largest at 1,200. Financial activities employment fell by 800 jobs, and the other declining industries showed declines of 300 or fewer. Over the past year the state added 19,600 jobs. The rate of growth, 0.8 percent, was the same as in February. Six of the supersectors added jobs in the last year with the manufacturing and the professional and business services supersectors each adding 7,800 jobs. Other substantial gains came in educational and health services, 5,500, trade, transportation, and utilities, 2,800, and other services, 2,100. Of the five supersectors that showed a loss, four showed declines in excess of 1,000. The largest drop was in construction employment, which was down 2,200. Government showed a drop of 1,900, followed by leisure and hospitality, down 1,600, financial activities, down 1,100, and information, down 300.

Mining and Logging

Mining and logging employment fell by 100, the first loss since November. Over the past year the supersector added 750 jobs as the year-ago data suffered from temporary layoffs in the iron ore mining industry.

Construction

Construction industries added 1,200 jobs in March after adding 500 in February. The majority of the monthly gains came in construction of buildings with specialty trade contractors also showing good growth. Over the past year the supersector showed a loss of 2,200, equal to -3.1 percent. The annual rate of change has been improving the past three months and has fallen substantially from the -10.2 percent annual rate of change posted last December. Heavy and civil engineering construction showed a loss of 1,500 as the oil pipeline construction project that was under way last year was completed in the interim and created a substantially lower employment level this year. Specialty trade contractors was down 500 with essentially all the loss coming in building equipment contractors. The end of the tax breaks for installing energy efficient heating and cooling systems, windows, and insulation has no doubt contributed to the loss of 1,700 that occurred in building equipment contractors.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing employment increased by 300 jobs in March. This was the third increase in a row and the fourth in the last five months. Unlike other recent gains, the driving force in the supersector gain came from nondurable-goods manufacturing where an increase of 700 occurred after adding 600 in February. Nothing in the more detailed industries showed strong change either positive or negative for the month. The gain in nondurable-goods manufacturing came from outside the estimated nondurable-goods industries. The annual comparison showed that manufacturing added 7,800 jobs over the past 12 months, of which 6,000 was in durable-goods manufacturing. All of the more detailed durable-goods industries except furniture and related manufacturing showed over-the-year growth. By far the largest annual increase was in fabricated metal product manufacturing where 2,400 jobs were added. Nondurable-goods manufacturing increased 1,800 with 300 of this coming from food manufacturing and the remainder from detailed industries that are not estimated.

Trade, Transportation, and Utilities

Trade, transportation, and utilities employment was up 300 in March as growth in retail trade offset losses in transportation, warehousing, and utilities. The addition of 1,100 jobs in retail trade was its first sizeable gain since October 2010. From November 2010 through February 2011 there was a net change of -4,900, so the monthly increase is a refreshing improvement after the weak holiday season. The loss of 800 in transportation was the third consecutive monthly loss following a period of substantial gains late last year. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities added a net 1,100 jobs since last September. There was no change in wholesale trade employment for the month. Over the past year the supersector added 2,700 jobs largely on the strength of growth in excess of 2,000 in wholesale trade with most of the increase in durable-goods wholesaling. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities showed an increase of 700 mainly from gains made in late 2010.

Information

There was little change in employment in information over the month of March with estimates showing a loss of 100. Over the past year employment fell by 300 jobs, with losses of 500 in traditional publishing industries and 300 in telecommunications being partly offset by gains in other information industries.

Financial Activities

The financial activities supersector posted a monthly loss of 800 in March. Nearly all the decline was in real estate and rental and leasing, which was down 700 for the month to erase a gain of 600 in February. There has been no consistent trend in the supersector in recent months, but losses have outweighed gains for the past six months with a net decline of 1,500 for the period. On an annual basis the supersector saw a decline of 1,100. Nearly all of this loss has been in real estate and rental and leasing where rental and leasing industries have been weak over the past year. Of the group of industries in the supersector only insurance carriers maintained a strong rate of growth, up 2.8 percent over last year. The annual rate of growth for the supersector has shown little change over the first quarter with losses of 0.1 percent in January, 0.2 percent in February, and 0.2 percent in March.

Professional and Business Services 

After increases in January and February, employment in professional and business services was down 1,200 for March. Administrative and support services saw a decline of 900 with additional losses of 500 in management of companies. These declines were only slightly countered by a small gain in professional and technical services. In the last six months the supersector has added jobs four times for a net increase of 3,600 for this period of which 2,800 came in administrative and support services. Compared to last March the supersector showed a gain of 7,800 jobs, equal to 2.6 percent. Most of the supersector increase was caused by growth in administrative and support services, which was up by 6,800 jobs with the remaining growth coming from management of companies, which added 1,200 jobs. Professional, scientific, and technical service was down 200 jobs with mixed results in its component industries. The supersector benefited largely from extremely strong growth in employment services this past year, up 17 percent compared to last March.

Educational and Health Services

A gain of 2,600 in health services and social assistance erased a loss of 1,100 in private educational services to yield a net increase of 1,500 for the educational and health services supersector. The gains in health services were widespread. The nursing and residential care facilities, social assistance, and ambulatory health care services subsectors all showed good monthly employment results. The loss in private educational services was largely from weak results in colleges, universities, and professional schools. Over the past 12 months the supersector has added about 5,500 jobs with nearly all of the major component industries showing moderate to strong growth. The private education industries were up 1,600 with private colleges and universities alone up 1,500. Healthcare and social assistance was up 3,900 despite a loss of 600 in social assistance. Strong growth in nursing and residential care facilities and in ambulatory health care services easily outweighed these losses.

Leisure and Hospitality

The largest monthly gain in March came in leisure and hospitality, which increased 1,900. Accommodation and food services accounted for 1,200 of this gain as full service restaurants posted strong results for the month. Arts, entertainment, and recreation added 700 for the month. Compared to last March, employment was down 1,600. The loss reflected obverse results in the two major sectors. Arts, entertainment, and recreation showed a loss of 6,000 jobs as employment fell off dramatically in the winter. This loss was largely erased by an increase of 4,400 in accommodation and food services. In particular, firms in the accommodation industry have seen strong improvement the past 12 months adding 3,300 jobs as circumstances improve at hotels and resorts.

Other Services

There was essentially no change in other services employment in March with a slight increase of 100 jobs present in the estimates. For the year, other services employment was up 2,100 or 1.9 percent. All three component subsectors showed gains over the past year, but the largest increase was in personal and laundry services.

Government

Government employment saw a net loss of 300 in March as a small gain in state government employment was erased by a loss of 600 in local government employment. Most of the loss in local government was in local government educational services. Over the past year government employment was down 1,900. Federal government was down 2,600 because of the presence of census workers in last year’s count. State government added 200 jobs with education gains. Local government was up 500 as increases in non-educational local government entities erased the losses experienced in local government educational services.

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