Labor Day by the numbers

By Anna Turner
Economic Policy Institute
September 4, 2009
September 7, 2009 | An EPI Fact Sheet

compiled by Anna Turner

Print-friendly PDF format

Note that all numbers are current as of September 4, 2009.

TOTAL JOBS LOST DURING THE RECESSION: 6.9 MILLION
• New jobs needed per month to keep up with population growth: 127,000
• Jobs lost in August 2009: 216,000
• Jobs needed to regain pre-recession unemployment levels: 9.4 million
• Manufacturing jobs lost since the start of the recession: 2.0 million (14.6% of sector’s jobs)
• Construction jobs lost in the recession: 1.4 million (19%, nearly one in five construction jobs)
• Mass layoffs (50 or more people by a single employer) in July 2009: 2,157; jobs lost: 206,791

Continue reading here for a comprehensive list of economic indicators including unemployment, states with double-digit unemployment in July 2009, increase in average U.S. Worker's productivity 2000-07,expected new spending (12 months) from the new $7.2 minimum wage, Americans uninsured in 2007, share of people near retirement age with a 401(K) balance under $40,000, workplaces with no contract more than three years after election is won, and annualized rate of economic contraction, 2nd Quarter, 2009.