The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that despite the 95,000 jobs lost in just the last month alone, the national unemployment rate remains at 9.6 percent. The current unemployment rate is still about 0.5 percent lower than the same time last year, and the number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged in September, and still lingers around 14.8 million.
In September, 41.7 percent of those unemployed had been so for 27 weeks or over, a considerable 2,543,700 out of the 6.1 million.
Employment in mining grew by 6,000 over the month, and employment in manufacturing was little changed since August. The construction sector, however, lost 21,000 jobs in September, and is approaching a 14-year low with total construction unemployment currently at 17.2 percent, near double the US's total unemployment statistic.
While total private employment rose by 593,000 during the past 12 months, the construction industry lost 210,000 jobs in the same period. Most of September's construction job losses came from the nonresidential sector, which lost 18,100 jobs, as demand for commercial facilities and infrastructure projects remains weak, explained the American General Contractor's chief economist, Ken Simonson.