THE END OF 2-YEAR-LONG INCREASE IN MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT COUPLED WITH THE DECREASE IN LABOR FORCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT
According to the seasonally adjusted data, the number of employed persons increased by 123 thousand compared to the previous quarter and rose to 30 million 787 thousand in 2022 Q3, and the unemployment rate decreased from 10.7% to 10.0% following the decrease in the level of unemployed by 234 thousand. QoQ employment growth was 0.4%, implying a substantial deceleration in the employment growth. The deceleration in the employment growth is in line with the predictions that the QoQ economic growth will slow down.
Seasonally adjusted sectoral employment data reveals that, after lasting two years, the growth in manufacturing employment came to a halt. While the level of manufacturing employment fell by 107 thousand (by 1.6 percent) due to the decrease in male employment (119 thousand), the number of employed in the services sector increased by 247 thousand (by 1.4 percent). Lastly, while the level of agricultural employment went down by 26 thousand, the construction employment displayed a limited increase of 8 thousand.
The seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24) decreased by 0.8 pp to 19.1% thanks to the increases in the number of employed youths. The gender gap in unemployment rates for young females and males remained at 8.8 pp.
According to the seasonally unadjusted data, the unemployment rate of the “less than high school” and “high school” graduates dropped, whereas the unemployment rate of the “vocational high school” and “higher education” graduates rose. The increase of 3.1 pp in the unemployment rate of female higher education graduates is especially striking.