Unemployment down, though number of people employed also down

August 4, 2003

By MortgageDaily.com staff

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, workers toiling in financially related activities totaled 8.053 million in July, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. In June, the number was 8.36 million.

Of the 17,000 additional net jobs in the sector, 6,000 of them occurred in the “Credit intermediation and related activities” section. The report, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said that particular portion of the workforce totaled 2.802 million in July, up from 2.796 million in June. Mortgage brokers are now included in this more general category.

The only segment of the financial sector which reported a loss of jobs for the month was the “insurance carriers and related activities” section, which lost 2,500 jobs during the month.

According to the released data, although the financial sector grew, its growth is slowing from prior months. Between August 2002 and May 2003, the sector averaged a 16,000 job gain per month. In June and July, only 7,000 jobs per month were added, the statement said.

Overall, unemployment decreased to 6.2 percent for July, compared to 6.4 for June, a 0.2 percent drop. However, payroll employment declined again as it has consistently for the last six months, the statement said.