III

throughout the year, accelerating in the autumn. Until September, gains innonmanufacturing employment, especially in trade and services, more thanoffset the reductions in manufacturing (Table 3). But after the summerpeak, lowered employment in construction, trade, and transportation, combinedwith sharper declines in manufacturing, reduced nonfarm employmentby December to a level below that of December 1956.TABLE 3.—Changes in nonagricultural employment since December 1956[Thousands of persons, seasonally adjusted data]IndustryEmployees in nonagricultural establishments.ManufacturingDurable goods industriesNondurable goods industries.Nonmanufacturing.MiningContract constructionTransportationPublic utilitiesWholesale and retail tradeFinance, insurance, and real estate-Service and miscellaneousGovernmentFederalState and local-1 Based on preliminary figures for December.Source: Department of Labor.December195751,89516, 2819,3906.89135,6148162,9062,6651,41111, 4712,3656,5457,4352,1745,261December1956 toAugust1957303-270-191-7957320-42-7222613411816717150ChangeAugust December1957 to 1956 toDecember December1957 1 1957 1-949 -646-555 -825-454 -645-101 -180-394179-37-17-126 -168-97 -104-1111-19863114568186-4163-60 -4356 206The decline in employment during 1957 was accompanied by a slowergrowth of the civilian labor force. From 1954 to 1956, as job opportunitieshad increased rapidly, large numbers of people had entered the labor marketand the civilian labor force had expanded by 3 million. The growth wasdue mainly to substantial increases in the number of teen-age persons andwomen over 35 desiring employment. By late 1956, however, and throughout1957, the labor force was increasing more slowly; between the finalquarters of 1956 and 1957, the increase amounted to about half a million.Because the slower growth of employment was generally accompaniedby smaller additions to the labor force, rates of unemployment remainedroughly unchanged until October, at the low level prevailing since 1955. ByDecember, however, the unemployment rate had risen, on a seasonallyadjusted basis, to 5.2 percent, from 4.3 percent in September. For 1957 asa whole, unemployment averaged 4.3 percent of the labor force, about thesame as in 1956.Lower employment in manufacturing in 1957 was accompanied by reductionsin hours of work, less overtime, and a distinct slowing down in gainsin average hourly and weekly earnings. In December, the average work-20