Last week, I reported employment fell in the first six months of the year, but which industries bucked the trend in the Augusta area?
Five industries saw employment rise over the last six months. The biggest increase, maybe surprisingly, was in “other services,” which added 955 jobs. This was closely followed by private education and health care services, which added 886 jobs.
Government jobs were up by over 500, with the gains being equally shared between state and local government. Retail added over 300 jobs, and manufacturing added 100.
Large job losses were seen in transportation and utilities, down 600 jobs, and professional and business services, down 420. Mining, logging, and construction lost over 200 jobs, with smaller losses in information and financial activities. Leisure and hospitality and wholesale were unchanged.
Monthly changes in local employment, especially at the industry level, are very volatile. To help readers better understand the changes occurring in the labor market, consider the chart below.
The vertical axis measures annual growth while the horizontal axis measures monthly growth. Industries in the top right quadrant, such as state government and other services, are growing on a monthly and annual basis. Industries in the bottom left quadrant, such as transportation and utilities (T&U) and mining, logging, and construction (MLC), are declining on a monthly and annual basis. Professional and business services in the bottom right quadrant are declining on an annual basis but growing over the last month. Call industries in this quadrant are recovering. The top left quadrant has positive annual growth but negative monthly growth; for June, this is only total employment. Call industries in this quadrant blips, indicating (hopefully) temporary change.
Overall, most industries fall in the growth or declining quadrants, with more in the growth sector suggesting a relatively strong labor market. Few industries are recovering or blips.
