Commissioner's report on latest employment figures

Statement of Keith Hall, Commissioner of Bureau of Labor Statistics

                    Friday, September 3, 2010 

In August, nonfarm payroll employment changed little

(-54,000), and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6

percent.  Large declines in federal government employment

continued as additional Census 2010 workers completed their

temporary jobs.  Private-sector employment continued to trend up

modestly (+67,000) and has increased by an average of 72,000 per

month over the past 4 months.

    

     In August, federal government employment fell for the third

consecutive month.  The number of temporary Census 2010 workers

declined by 114,000, following declines of 225,000 and 143,000 in

June and July, respectively.  This leaves 82,000 temporary

decennial census workers on the payroll.

    

     Health care continued to add jobs (+28,000) in August, with

employment increases in both ambulatory health care services and

hospitals.  Employment in mining (+8,000) also continued to

expand, reflecting ongoing job gains in support activities for

mining.

    

     Temporary help services employment was up over the month

(+17,000), following virtually no gain in July.  Since September

of last year, this industry has added 392,000 jobs.

    

     Manufacturing employment fell by 27,000 over the month,

mostly offsetting an increase in July.  As with July¿s gain, most

of August¿s decline occurred in motor vehicles and parts

manufacturing, where a number of plants deviated from their

normal retooling practice of shutting down in July and reopening

in August.  Over the 2-month span, employment was essentially

unchanged in motor vehicles and parts.

    

     In construction, employment was up by 19,000 in August;

however, about half of the increase was due to the return of

10,000 workers to their jobs following a strike in July.  On net,

construction employment is about unchanged since March.

    

     Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm

payrolls rose by 6 cents in August to $22.66.  Over the past 12

months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent.  From

July 2009 to July 2010, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban

Consumers increased by 1.3 percent.

    

     Turning to measures from the survey of households, the

unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in August.  From May through

August, the jobless rate remained in a range of 9.5 to 9.7

percent.  The number of unemployed persons who had been jobless

for 6 months or more declined to 6.2 million in August, or 42

percent of the unemployed.

    

     The employment-population ratio was 58.5 percent in August,

essentially unchanged from the prior 2 months.  Among the

employed, the number of individuals working part time who

preferred full-time work rose by 331,000 over the month to 8.9

million.

    

     In summary, both nonfarm payroll employment and the

unemployment rate were little changed in August.  Job losses

continued in federal government as Census 2010 activities scaled

back, while private-sector employment continued on a modest

upward trend.

    
 The latest Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation

(http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/jec.pdf)