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 

Keith Hall 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

before the 

Joint Economic Committee 

UNITED STATES CONGRESS 

Friday, May 6, 2011

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and 

unemployment data we released this morning. 

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 244,000 in April, 

and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.0 percent. Over the 

last 3 months, payroll employment has risen by an average of 

233,000 compared with an average of 104,000 in the prior 3 

months. In April, employment increased in several serviceproviding industries, manufacturing, and mining. 

Retail trade added 57,000 jobs in April. This increase 

followed 2 months in which retail employment changed little. 

Over the month, job gains occurred in electronics and appliance 
2 

stores, building and garden supply stores, and automobile 

dealerships. An employment increase in general merchandise 

stores (+27,000) offset a decline of similar size in March. 

Employment in professional and business services rose by 

51,000 in April. Since a low point in September 2009, 

employment in this industry has increased by 745,000. Several 

component industries continued to add jobs in April, including 

management and technical consulting services and computer 

systems design services. Employment in temporary help services 

was essentially unchanged in April. 

 Employment in leisure and hospitality grew by 46,000 over 

the month and by 151,000 in the last 3 months. Food services 

and drinking places added 27,000 jobs in April and has accounted 

for nearly two-thirds of the gain in leisure and hospitality 

since January. 

Health care employment continued to increase in April 

(+37,000). Job growth occurred in ambulatory health care and in 

hospitals. 

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing employment 

rose by 29,000 in April. Since December 2009, manufacturing has 

added a quarter of a million jobs. Durable-goods manufacturing 

has been the source of this growth. Over the month, job gains 

continued in machinery, primary metals, and computer and 

electronic products. 
3 

Employment in mining increased by 11,000 in April, 

following a gain of similar magnitude in March. Most of the 

growth occurred in support activities for mining. Since a 

recent low point in October 2009, mining employment has risen by 

107,000. Elsewhere in the goods-producing sector, construction 

employment was about unchanged over the month. It has shown 

little net movement since early 2010, after falling sharply 

during the prior 3 years. 

 Employment in state government and local government 

continued to trend down in April. Both have been losing jobs 

since the second half of 2008. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 3 cents in April to $22.95. Over the past 

12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.9 percent. 

From March 2010 to March 2011, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose by 2.7 percent. 

Turning now to measures from the survey of households, the 

jobless rate edged up from 8.8 to 9.0 percent in April. 

However, the rate was 0.8 percentage point lower than in 

November of last year. In April, there were 13.7 million 

unemployed persons, little changed from the prior month. The 

number of people unemployed for less than 5 weeks increased by 

242,000 in April. The number jobless for 27 weeks and over 

declined by 283,000 to 5.8 million. 
4 

Other household indicators showed little or no change over 

the month. The labor force participation rate has been 64.2 

percent since January. The employment-population ratio was 

little changed at 58.4 percent in April. Despite increases in 

household survey employment since late 2009, the ratio has shown 

little movement. Among the employed, the number of individuals 

working part time who preferred full-time work was little 

changed at 8.6 million. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 244,000 in 

April, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.0 percent. 

My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your 

questions.