US chemicals sector lost jobs in July, but plastics saw gains

WASHINGTON (ICIS)--Approximately 1,200 US chemical sector workers lost their jobs in July, the Department of Labor (DOL) said on Friday, but the plastics industry took on as many as 2,700 additional workers while overall US unemployment held steady at 9.5%.

In its monthly report, the department said that from June to July, the chemicals sector workforce declined to 777,900 from 779,100, with both figures seasonally adjusted.

The plastics industry saw July employment rise to 637,400 compared with the June figure of 634,700, according to the department.

The July employment figures for both chemicals and plastics nearly duplicate the respective losses and gains reported for June.

Last month, according to the department, the chemicals sector lost 1,700 jobs while the plastics industry added 2,700 workers.

Overall, the department said that the nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 9.5% with 14.6m Americans unable to find work.

Total non-farm payrolls fell by 131,000 in July, chiefly because of the loss of 143,000 federal census jobs, which were only partially offset by an increase of 71,000 jobs in the private sector.

However, the gain of 71,000 jobs in the private sector was below the 90,000 additional jobs that many economists had expected for the July results.

That relatively low advance in private sector job growth is seen as another indication that the US economic recovery is wobbly.

The US should see private sector job growth of about 100,000 per month just to accommodate new employees entering the workforce.

Until the economy can begin to generate job growth well in excess of 100,000 per month, the national unemployment picture is not expected to improve.

The department said that so far this year, the economy had added some 630,000 private sector jobs, or about 90,000 on average for each of the first seven months of 2010.

But most of those private sector jobs - about two-thirds - were added in March and April when the recovery was showing more strength, and the pace of hiring has cooled since then.