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Employers are laying off fewer workers, the government reported Friday, but widespread cuts are still happening – only about 30 percent of industries are adding jobs or holding steady.
That's up from 20 percent in March, at the depth of the recession, but it still means that 70 percent of the 271 industries tracked by the Labor Department are cutting jobs, according to the department's July employment report.
“We're still a long way from where we would be in an expansion,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities. “Job losses continue to be extremely broad-based.”
For example, in July 2007, five months before the recession began, 50.7 percent of industries were hiring or at least not laying people off, the department said.
Still, most news showed improvement: The unemployment rate dropped slightly to 9.4 percent, from 9.5 percent in June. And companies cut 247,000 jobs, a large number but fewer than the November-April 645,000 monthly average.
Even in industries where job cuts continue, reductions are fewer than in recent months.
Manufacturing, for example, lost 52,000 jobs in July, compared to 131,000 lost jobs in June. Much of the change was due to a big improvement in the auto and auto-parts industries, which added more than 28,000 jobs.
There were some new bright spots, as arts, entertainment and recreation added 10,000 jobs last month. That category includes performing arts, spectator sports, amusement parks and gambling.
Health care, which has been a bright spot throughout the recession, added 19,600 jobs.
