LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Payrolls: Labor Department
built 227 days ago
Nonfarm payrolls dropped by 4,000 in August, well short of the 115K gain forecast by economists, the Department of Labor reported Friday. Unemployment remained unchanged at 4.6%. The surprise drop is likely to increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to drop the fed funds target rate at its Sep. 18 FOMC policy meeting. The contraction marks the first drop in U.S. payrolls since August 2003. The numbers included steep job losses in construction and manufacturing, the latter a potential sign that housing-market weakness may be filtering through to the general economy. "Downturns in housing construction have almost always been followed by a downturn in the economy, by a recession," Harvard economist Martin Feldstein told Bloomberg in an interview.
Source:
Steve Salke, owner and president of Aztec Landscape Engineering, in Woodland Hills, CA, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, in Los Angeles, CA, to making false statements on certified payrolls for Federally funded highway projects, in violation of the Davis-Bacon Act. Salke, who was awarded Federal highway landscaping contracts in California worth more than $2 million, was required under the act to pay his employees the prevailing wage, as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor. Salke paid his employees the correct amount by check, but then demanded they return two-thirds of their wages to him. Salke signed and sent certified payrolls to the State of California DOT certifying that he paid his employees at the prevailing wage rate. Sentencing for Salke is scheduled for June 12, 2002. OIG investigated this case with the Department of Labor OIG and the FBI.
Source:
The drop in payrolls marked a significant deterioration in employment conditions. In December, employers added 82,000 new jobs. January's decline was the first since August 2003, when the labor market was still struggling to recover from the 2001 recession.
Source:
The labor market has been mired in its longest slump since World War II, with payrolls 2.7 million jobs lighter than they were in March 2001, when the latest recession began. Though the recession ended in November 2001, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, there has been no consistent job growth.
Source:
Checks, pursuant to RCW 35A.40.020, or warrants may be drawn upon said payrolls fund and cashed for the purpose of paying any moneys due city employees for salaries and wages. The accounts of the city shall be so kept that they shall show the department or departments and amounts to which the payment is properly chargeable. (Ord. 1525 ยง 1, 1971).
Source:
The problem is that the employment and labor force measures in the household survey are far more volatile than even nonfarm payrolls. The reason, of course, is the small survey sample size. It is therefore useful to look at the labor force and employment figures themselves to determine if changes in the unemployment rate are due to aberrant swings in one or both of these series.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Labor Department