US Employment and Jobs

There were 132,989,000 jobs in the US in April 2012 according to the CES survey of employers. The CPS survey of households showed 141,865,000 employed persons for the month. The US added 115,000 jobs in April 2012 according to the CES survey while the broader CPS employment measure fell by 169,000. (Comparing CES and CPS employment numbers.)

Employment Survey	April 2012	Month/Month	Year/Year
CES	132,989,000	+115,000	+1,816,000
CPS	141,865,000	-169,000	+2,237,000

Employment Changes

The charts below show the monthly change in the US as measured by the CES and CPS surveys. To illustrate the trend, the 3 month moving average change in employment is shown in green.

CES Employment Change: 1 Month, Rolling 3 Month

CPS Employment Change: 1 Month, Rolling 3 Month

Total US Employment

CES employment peaked for the US in January 2008 at 138,023,000. Since then 5,034,000 jobs have been lost according to the employer survey. From a trough of 129,244,000 in February 2010, the US has added 3,745,000 jobs according to CES employment figures.

CPS employment reached a maximum of 146,595,000 in November 2007. 4,730,000 have been lost since then according to the household survey. From a December 2009 low of 137,968,000, the US has added 3,897,000 jobs according to the CPS survey.

Employment: CES, CPS

US Employment History

Date	CES Employment	CES Month/Month	CPS Employment	CPS Month/Month
April 2012	132,989,000	115K	141,865,000	-169K
March 2012	132,874,000	154K	142,034,000	-31K
February 2012	132,720,000	259K	142,065,000	428K
January 2012	132,461,000	275K	141,637,000	847K
December 2011	132,186,000	223K	140,790,000	176K
November 2011	131,963,000	157K	140,614,000	317K
October 2011	131,806,000	112K	140,297,000	190K
September 2011	131,694,000	202K	140,107,000	353K
August 2011	131,492,000	85K	139,754,000	304K
July 2011	131,407,000	96K	139,450,000	65K
June 2011	131,311,000	84K	139,385,000	-423K
May 2011	131,227,000	54K	139,808,000	180K
April 2011	131,173,000	251K	139,628,000	-136K