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

Philip L. Rones

Deputy Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, September 7, 2007

 Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged 

in August (-4,000), and the unemployment rate held at 4.6 

percent. Payroll employment has grown little during the 

past 3 months (44,000 per month on average), following 

downward revisions to June and July estimates. In 

contrast, payroll employment growth averaged 147,000 per 

month for the first 5 months of the year. Continuing job 

losses in manufacturing and construction, slower job growth 

in some service-providing industries, and declines in local 

government education contributed to the recent weakness in 

payroll employment. 

 In August, manufacturing employment fell by 46,000. 

Job losses were widespread throughout the industry and

included notable declines in motor vehicles, machinery, 

wood products, and semiconductors. Construction employment 
2

continued to trend down over the month (-22,000), with most 

of the decline among residential specialty trade 

contractors. Construction employment peaked last 

September; since then, 96,000 jobs have been lost. 

 Employment in health care remained on a strong growth 

trend in August, increasing by 35,000. Social assistance 

employment rose by 14,000. 

 Over the month, employment continued to trend up in 

professional and technical services (which includes 

industries such as architectural services and management 

consulting). The pace of job growth in professional and 

technical services has slowed to an average of 17,000 per 

month in the past 3 months compared with 25,000 per month

during the first 5 months of this year. 

 In the leisure and hospitality industry, food services 

added 24,000 jobs in August. Over the past 3 months, 

average employment growth in food services was 21,000, down 

from an average of 31,000 for the first 5 months of the 

year. Employment in accommodations has trended down over

the past 3 months. 

 Employment in local government education declined by 

50,000 in July and by 32,000 in August. Employment 

estimates for local government education can be volatile, 

particularly during the summer months.
3

 Average hourly earnings for production and 

nonsupervisory workers increased by 5 cents in August to 

$17.50. Over the year, average hourly earnings rose by 3.9 

percent. 

 Turning to measures from the survey of households, the 

unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.6 percent in August. 

The jobless rate has remained in the narrow range of 4.4 to 

4.6 percent since last September. The unemployment rates 

for the major worker groups showed little or no change in 

August. 

 The labor force participation rate decreased to 65.8 

percent in August, largely reflecting a decline in 

participation among teens. The labor force participation 

rate of teenagers declined by 1.5 percentage points to 39.7 

percent. The household survey reference period fell 

relatively late this August (covering the week from Sunday, 

August 12 through Saturday, August 18) and, as a result, a 

larger-than-usual number of teens had left the labor force 

to return to school when surveyed. While the movement in 

August may have been exaggerated by the timing of the 

survey week, the labor force participation rate of 

teenagers had been declining recently--from 43.4 percent in 

December 2006 to 41.2 percent in July 2007.
4

 Total employment, as measured by the household survey, 

has been flat thus far in 2007. The employment-population 

ratio was 62.8 percent in August, 0.6 percentage point 

lower than in December. 

 In summary, nonfarm payroll employment was essentially 

unchanged in August, and the unemployment rate held at 4.6 

percent.