Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 49 states in August compared to the previous month. The largest increase came from New York, which added 153,300 jobs during this time. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 1.4 million over the month of August, following an increase of 1.7 million jobs in July.
Month-over-month (MoM), total nonfarm employment was robust across all regions gaining a total of 1.4 million or an increase of 1.0% from July to August. During this time, total nonfarm employment increased by 1.5% in the Northeast, 1.0% in the Midwest, 0.9% in the South, and by 0.8% in the West.
Year-over-year (YoY), total nonfarm employment fell by 10.2 million jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis (SA), or -6.8% from August 2019 to August 2020. During this time, total nonfarm employment decreased across all the regions. Northeast declined by 10.1%, Western region by 7.5%, the Midwest by 6.8%, and the South by 5.2%. In July, the year-over-year job losses were 11.4 million on a seasonally adjusted basis.
On a month-over-month basis, the employment data is strong with New York adding 153,300 jobs, followed by Texas (+106,800) and California (+101,900). The other 46 states added 1.04 million jobs during this time. District of Columbia and Hawaii lost a total of 2,500 jobs. In percentage terms, New York, Virginia, and New Jersey increased by 1.8% while District of Columbia and Hawaii reported a decline of 0.2% between July and August.
Year-over-year, ending in August, all the states and the District of Columbia decreased in employment totaling 10.2 million jobs lost across the country. The range of job losses span 5,500 jobs lost in Idaho to 1.6 million job lost in California. In percentage terms, Hawaii reported the steepest decline at 16.1% while Idaho lost 0.7% of nonfarm payroll compared to a year ago.
In the construction sector specifically, which includes both residential and non-residential construction, across the 48 states which reported construction sector jobs data, 30 states reported an increase in August compared to July, while 18 states lost construction sector jobs. California added 6,700 construction jobs while Nevada lost 2,600 construction sector jobs during this time. Overall, the construction industry added 16,000 jobs in August compared to the previous month. In percentage terms, New Mexico increased by 6.7% while West Virginia reported a decline of 3.3% between July and August.
Year-over-year, the U.S lost 294,000 construction sector jobs which is a 3.9% decrease compared to August 2019. Utah added 8,800 jobs, which was the largest gains of any state while California lost 52,000 jobs, which was the largest decline of any state. In percentage terms, South Dakota had the highest annual growth rate in construction sector by 10.9%. Over this period, Vermont reported the largest decline at 29.6%.
