The State Of American Jobs In 18 Charts

Steven Perlberg
Obama flag scratching headREUTERS/ Jason Reed

The U.S. added just 169,000 new jobs in August, missing analyst expectations.

The employment rate dropped to 7.3% from 7.4% in July. But that was largely thanks to the continuing decline in labour force participation.

As back-to-school season got underway, the U.S. gained in retail trade employment (+44,000 jobs) and education and health services (+43,000), according the Bureau of Labour Statistics new report.

In the report, the BLS breaks down the state of American jobs sector by sector. We have the charts for you.

Here's the overall jobs picture

Retail trade was in the lead, just like July

Mining hit an employment low in October 2009, but has added 217,000 jobs since then

Construction employment hit its peak in April 2006 thanks to the housing bubble, but now remains about 2 million below

After a decrease of 16,000 jobs in July, manufacturing employment grew by about the same figure in August

Motor vehicles and parts manufacturing has added 191,000 jobs since its June 2009 low

Wholesale trade has added 83,000 jobs over the year

Some of the retail trade job growth was thanks to back-to-school season

Like with electronics and appliance stores, for example, which saw 4,000 new jobs in August

Half of the gain here came from family clothing stores that usually benefit from back-to-school season

After a July decline, transit and ground passenger transportation bumped up 8,000 in August

Utilities employment changed little

Information employment dropped as the motion picture/sound recording industries lost 22,000 jobs

Financial activities fell a bit in August, but have added 229,000 jobs since its February 2011 low

Since August 2009, employment in professional/business services has jumped by 2.2 million

The sector grew by 43,000 jobs in August

Consumer confidence is often pretty volatile, but does tend to track along with employment in leisure/hospitality

The federal government has lost 60,000 jobs so far this year

Now look how the rest of the world stacks up

Jan Vosahlik (R) of the Czech Republic's FK Jablonec holds onto the shorts of Jorgen Horn of Norway's Stromsgodset as Horn attempts to score a goal during their Europa League third qualifying round soccer match in Drammen, August 8, 2013.

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