September 2011 was the best month for U.S. jobs in 2011, as 398,000 more Americans were counted as employed than in the previous month, as the U.S. economy began to pick up its pace of growth. As expected.
In addition, for the first time since the last recession officially ended in June 2009, the number of employed Americans rose above the 140 million mark, to 140,025,000.
Compared to the month before the last recession began in December 2007, when the total employment level peaked in the United States at 146,584,000, some 6,559,000 fewer Americans were being counted as having jobs in the month of September 2011.
Breaking down the change from the previous months totals by age, some 40,000 additional teens (Age 16-19), 177,000 additional young adults (Age 20-24), and 181,000 adults (Age 25+) were counted as being employed in September 2011 than were in August 2011.
Compared to November 2007, some 1,559,000 fewer teens (Age 16-19), 927,000 fewer young adults (Age 20-24) and 4,073,000 fewer adults (Age 25+) had jobs in September 2011.
Of all those jobs that have disappeared from the U.S. economy since the recession began in December 2007, nearly 1 in 4 were held by teens, who represent just 3.1% of the entire employed U.S. workforce as of September 2011. In November 2007, teens represented 4.3% of the entire U.S. workforce.