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, September 6, 2013

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 169,000 in August, 

and the unemployment rate was little changed at 7.3 percent. 

Over the prior 12 months, job gains averaged 184,000 per month. 

In August, employment rose in retail trade and health care, 

while information lost jobs. 

Retail trade added 44,000 jobs in August. Job gains 

occurred in clothing stores (+14,000), food and beverage stores 

(+12,000), general merchandise stores (+9,000), and electronics 

and appliance stores (+4,000). Over the past 12 months, retail 

trade employment has increased by 393,000. 

Health care employment rose by 33,000 in August. Within 

health care, ambulatory care services, such as doctors’ offices 

and home health care services, added 27,000 jobs. 

Employment in professional and business services continued 

to trend up in August (+23,000). Over the past 12 months, this 
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industry has added 614,000 jobs. Employment in temporary help 

services changed little in August. 

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services 

and drinking places continued to trend up (+21,000). Over the 

past 12 months, employment in food services and drinking places 

has increased by 354,000. 

Employment also continued to rise in wholesale trade in 

August (+8,000). This industry has added 83,000 jobs over the 

past 12 months. 

Within manufacturing, employment in motor vehicles and 

parts was up by 19,000 over the month after decreasing by 10,000 

in July. Auto manufacturers laid off more workers for model 

changeover in July than in recent years. The return of laid-off 

workers contributed to the increase in August. Over the past 12 

months, auto manufacturers have added 34,000 jobs. 

In August, employment declined in information due to a loss 

of 22,000 in the motion picture and sound recording industry, 

where employment can be volatile from month to month. Employment 

in other major industries showed little or no change over the 

month. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 5 cents in August. Over the past 12 months, 

average hourly earnings have risen by 52 cents, or 2.2 percent. 
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From July 2012 to July 2013, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose by 2.0 percent. 

Turning now to our survey of households, the unemployment 

rate, at 7.3 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 

11.3 million, were both little changed in August. The jobless 

rate is down from 8.1 percent a year ago. 

The labor force participation rate--the share of the 

population that was working or looking for work--edged down to 

63.2 percent in August. The employment-population ratio was 

about unchanged at 58.6 percent. 

The number of involuntary part-time workers fell by 334,000 

to 7.9 million in August. These individuals would have preferred 

full-time employment but had their hours cut or were unable to 

find full-time work. On net, involuntary part-time employment 

has changed little over the past 12 months. 

Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work 

in August, 2.3 million were classified as marginally attached to 

the labor force, down by 219,000 from a year earlier. These 

individuals had not looked 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 866,000 in August, 

essentially unchanged from a year earlier. 
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In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 169,000 

in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 7.3 

percent.