FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.S.T.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2006

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 Standard Time.

Statement of

Kathleen P. Utgoff

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

before the

Joint Economic Committee

UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Friday, February 3, 2006

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the labor 

market data we released this morning.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 193,000 in 

January, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent. 

Payroll employment was up by 140,000 in December and by 

354,000 in November (as revised). Over the year, payroll 

employment increased by 2.1 million. In January, 

employment growth occurred in construction, mining, and in 

several service-providing industries. 

Employment in construction rose by 46,000 over the 

month and by 345,000 over the year. Above-average 
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temperatures in most of the country may have contributed to 

fewer seasonal layoffs than usual in January. 

Manufacturing employment was little changed in 

January. A few manufacturing industries have shown small 

job gains in recent months, including wood products, 

fabricated metals, and electrical equipment. 

Mining added 6,000 jobs in January. Since its most 

recent low in April 2003, mining employment has increased 

by 91,000.

In the service-providing sector, employment growth 

continued in health care over the month. Jobs were added 

in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and nursing and residential 

care facilities. 

In January, employment in food services and drinking 

places grew by 31,000. Over the year, this industry has 

added 214,000 jobs. 

Employment in professional and business services was 

up by 24,000 in January, following 2 months of unusually 

large gains that totaled 138,000. In January, accounting 

services lost jobs, while employment trended up in computer 

systems design and in management and consulting services. 

In January, financial activities added 21,000 jobs. 

Wholesale trade employment was up by 15,000, while retail 

employment was little changed. 
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Average hourly earnings for production or 

nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 

7 cents in January to $16.41. Over the year, average 

hourly earnings grew by 3.3 percent. 

The establishment survey data released today reflect 

the incorporation of annual benchmark revisions and updated 

seasonal adjustment factors. Each year, we anchor our 

sample-based survey estimates to full universe counts of 

employment, derived principally from administrative records 

of the unemployment insurance tax system.

The benchmark revision decreased the level of nonfarm 

payroll employment in March 2005 by 158,000 (not seasonally 

adjusted), or about one-tenth of one percent. Over the 

past decade, benchmark revisions have averaged plus or 

minus two-tenths of one percent. The seasonally adjusted 

establishment survey data from January 2001 forward have 

been revised to incorporate updated seasonal adjustment 

factors.

Turning now to the measures from our household survey, 

the unemployment rate declined to 4.7 percent in January, 

and the number of unemployed persons fell to 7.0 million. 

The number of long-term unemployed persons--those 

unemployed for 27 weeks or more--declined to 1.2 million in 

January. They constituted 16.3 percent of all unemployed 
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persons, down from 21.0 percent a year earlier. The number 

of discouraged workers fell over the year to 396,000 (not 

seasonally adjusted). Discouraged workers are those 

persons outside the labor force who had stopped looking for 

work because they believed their job search efforts would 

be unsuccessful. 

With today’s release, we again report on the labor 

force status of survey respondents who evacuated from their 

homes due to Hurricane Katrina. The data are derived from 

a special set of questions that have been included in the 

household survey since October to identify and gather 

information from evacuees. The estimates do not account 

for all persons who evacuated from their homes due to 

Hurricane Katrina. We do not gather information on those 

evacuees who remain outside the scope of the survey, such 

as those currently living in hotels or shelters. 

The January data indicate that there were about 1.2 

million persons age 16 and over who evacuated from their 

August residence due to Hurricane Katrina. By January, 

about one-half of evacuees had returned to the homes they 

vacated in August. Among Katrina evacuees in January, 56.8 

percent were in the labor force, and their unemployment 

rate was 14.7 percent. Unemployment rates were much lower 

for those evacuees who had returned home than for those 
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evacuees who had not. The January unemployment rate for 

those who had returned was 2.9 percent; it was 26.3 percent 

for those who had not yet returned to their residences. 

To summarize the labor market data for January, 

payroll employment rose by 193,000, and the unemployment 

rate declined to 4.7 percent.

My colleagues and I now would be glad to address your 

questions.