Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press 

under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that 

the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. 

Statement of 

Erica L. Groshen 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, May 2, 2014

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 288,000 in April, and 

the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 6.3 

percent. Job gains were widespread, led by employment growth in 

professional and business services, retail trade, food services 

and drinking places, and construction. 

Incorporating the revisions for February and March, which 

increased total nonfarm employment by 36,000 on net, monthly job 

gains have averaged 238,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 

months prior to April, employment growth averaged 190,000 per 

month. 

Employment in professional and business services rose by 

75,000 over the month. The industry had added an average of 

55,000 jobs per month in the 12 months prior to April. Job 

growth continued in temporary help services, which was up by 
2 

24,000 over the month. Employment increased in management of 

companies (+12,000) and in computer systems design (+9,000). 

Retail trade employment rose by 35,000 in April, with 

modest gains throughout much of the industry. Employment in 

retail trade has grown by 327,000 over the past 12 months. 

Wholesale trade employment increased by 16,000 in April. 

Employment continued to expand in food services and 

drinking places in April (+33,000). The industry has added 

337,000 jobs over the year. 

Employment in construction rose by 32,000 in April. 

Construction has added 189,000 jobs over the past year, with 

almost three-fourths of the gain occurring over the past 6 

months. In April, job gains occurred in heavy construction and 

in residential building. 

Health care added 19,000 jobs in April, in line with 

average job growth over the prior 12 months. 

Mining employment rose by 10,000 in April, largely in 

support activities for mining (+7,000). April’s job growth in 

mining was much stronger than the average monthly employment 

change (+3,000) over the prior 12 months. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls were unchanged at $24.31 in April. Over the past 12 

months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.9 percent. From 
3 

March 2013 to March 2014, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 

Consumers (CPI-U) rose by 1.5 percent. 

Turning now to our survey of households, the unemployment 

rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 6.3 percent in April. The 

number of unemployed persons fell by 733,000 to 9.8 million. 

Both measures had shown little movement over the prior 4 months. 

Over the year, the jobless rate declined by 1.2 percentage 

points, and the number of unemployed persons decreased by 1.9 

million. 

In April, the number of unemployed reentrants and new 

entrants declined by 417,000 and 126,000, respectively. 

Reentrants are persons who previously worked but were not in the 

labor force prior to beginning their job search, and new 

entrants are unemployed persons who have never worked. 

The civilian labor force dropped by 806,000 in April, 

following a gain (+503,000) in March. The labor force 

participation rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 62.8 percent 

in April. The participation rate has shown no clear trend in 

recent months and currently is the same as it was this past 

October. 

Among persons not in the labor force in April--that is, 

neither working nor looking for work--2.2 million were 

classified as marginally attached to the labor force, down 

slightly from a year earlier. These individuals had not looked 
4 

for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, 

were available for work, and had looked for a job within the 

last 12 months. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of 

the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available 

for them, was 783,000 in April, little changed from a year 

earlier. 

Our analysis of the household survey data suggests that the 

April labor force decline was due mostly to fewer people 

entering the labor force than usual, rather than to more people 

exiting the labor force. As always, additional months of data 

may provide further insights into recent labor market 

developments. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 288,000 in 

April, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent.