Employment by Industry (U.S.): In July 2023, the total number of seasonally adjusted (SA), non-farm people employed in the U.S. was 156.3 million (M) – an increase of 187,000 (+0.1%) month on month (m/m). When compared to July 2022, total employment is up by 2.2% year on year (y/y). Among the employment sectors that we track at Gerdau, we saw the greatest monthly gain in the transportation equipment sector with a growth of 0.3% m/m.

The SA service-providing sector gained 169,000 jobs to reach total employment of 135.0M people in July, which is +0.1% m/m and +2.3% y/y.

The SA goods-producing sector employed 21.6M people in July – up 18,000 m/m (+0.08%), and up by 1.7% y/y. The service-providing sector is creating jobs at a faster rate than the goods-producing sector this month.

Figure 1 shows seasonally adjusted manufacturing and construction employment on the same chart from 2013 to present. Construction employment grew at a faster rate than manufacturing employment this month.

The SA manufacturing sector employed 13.0M people in July – down 2,000 m/m (flat m/m), and up 1.0% y/y. The two employment categories within manufacturing that we pay the most attention to are 1) motor vehicles & parts, and 2) transportation equipment. This month, there were 1.07M employed in the manufacture of motor vehicles and parts, down 2,000 m/m. The transportation equipment field employed 1.82M workers, up 6,000 m/m.

The SA construction sector employed a total of 7.9M – up 19,000 m/m, and increasing by 2.5% y/y. Most construction workers are employed constructing buildings. In July, there were 1.8M workers constructing buildings, increasing 0.3% m/m and up 2.8% y/y. Heavy and civil engineering was the next largest construction category, employing 1.12M in July – increasing 0.2% m/m, and up 3.5% y/y.

At Gerdau, we keep an eye on national employment data – especially within manufacturing and construction – since this is where most long product steel is used. In addition, we know that growth in net job creation correlates to increased steel consumption.