Employment in the US information industry fell by 23,000 in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on 4 September [1].
Losses in the industry had averaged 8,000 a month over the previous 12 months, according to the release [1].
The biggest fall was in computing infrastructure providers, data processing, web hosting and related services, which lost 8,000 jobs. Publishing lost 7,000 and broadcasting 5,000 [1].
The industry employed 2,745,000 people in August, seasonally adjusted, against 2,860,000 a year earlier. That is 115,000 fewer, a fall of 4.0% [2].
Across all industries, payrolls grew by 162,000 and the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1% [1].
What it measures
Payroll jobs at US employers classed in the information industry: publishing (including software publishers), film and sound, broadcasting, telecoms, data processing and hosting, and web search [2].
It comes from the monthly survey of businesses, which counts jobs, not people [1].
Computer systems design, where many programmers work, is counted in professional services, not information. It was little changed in August, at 2,362,700 jobs, against 2,394,000 a year earlier [2].
What it does not tell you
Which companies cut, or why. The survey counts jobs by industry, not by employer.
How final it is. August's figures are preliminary and will be revised in the next two monthly releases; the next is due on 2 October [1].
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