Employment Change by Sector, December 2011 to January 2012

Herewith the details of the 243,000 jobs gain in January 2012, shown by sectors:

Last month I noted with some pleasure that all private sectors showed gains. This month we’ve stepped backward some. The Information and Finance sectors both showed negative job change. All the industries within Information produced negative numbers, but the big one was Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries accounting for 7,900 of the 13,000 losses. Within the Finance sector, Insurance and Real Estate had positive results, not so banks and investment houses.

Amidst the still loudly echoing Hallelujahs of yesterday, let me stick to negatives. Government fared worst, again—and again worse than last month, losing 14,000 jobs. The big loser? Local government; that sector shed 11,000 jobs. And worst hit within that level? It was the local schools. They lost 9,600 jobs, thus most of the local jobs. That’s the spirit, folks. Let’s short the children, by all means. More stupid today, they’ll vote the right way tomorrow.