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

Philip L. Rones

Deputy Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, January 4, 2008

The unemployment rate rose to 5.0 percent in December, and 

payroll employment was essentially unchanged (+18,000) at 138.5 

million. In 2007, payroll employment growth averaged 111,000 

per month, compared with 189,000 per month in 2006. In 

December, job gains continued in professional and technical 

services, health care, and food services, but were mostly offset 

by losses elsewhere, particularly in construction and 

manufacturing. Average hourly earnings increased by 7 cents, 

which followed a gain of the same amount in November. 

Professional and technical services employment was up by 

33,000 in December, for a total gain of 322,000 in 2007. Within 

this industry grouping, employment rose over the month in 

management and technical consulting services and in 

architectural services. Within administrative and support 

services, services to buildings and dwellings added 19,000 jobs. 

In contrast, employment services showed essentially no job 
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change in December; this industry lost 158,000 jobs over the 

year. 

Employment in health care expanded by 28,000 in December; 

over the year, the industry added 381,000 jobs. Over the month, 

there were job gains in ambulatory health care and in hospitals. 

Social assistance employment continued to trend upward; over the 

year, the industry added 98,000 jobs.

Food services employment continued to grow in December, 

with a gain of 27,000. Over the year, job growth in the 

industry totaled 304,000. 

Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, employment in 

retail trade was down in December (-24,000), following a gain in 

November. Over the year, retail trade employment was little 

changed. Wholesale trade employment was flat in December. The 

information industry lost 13,000 jobs over the month, primarily 

due to declines in the motion pictures and broadcasting 

industries. Within financial activities, employment in credit 

intermediation continued its downward trend; since the February 

2007 peak, the industry has lost 79,000 jobs.

Within the goods-producing sector, mining added 5,000 jobs 

in December and 36,000 jobs in 2007. Construction employment 

fell by 49,000 over the month. Since its peak in September 

2006, employment in construction has fallen by 236,000, with the 

residential components accounting for the decline. 
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Employment in manufacturing fell by 31,000 in December. 

Over the year, job losses in manufacturing totaled 212,000; 

motor vehicles and parts led the declines (-74,000). Wood 

products, furniture, and nonmetallic minerals--manufacturing 

industries associated with home building--combined to account 

for 3 in 10 lost manufacturing jobs in 2007. In December, 

employment in motor vehicles and parts fell by 6,000, and there 

were smaller declines throughout both durable and nondurable 

goods manufacturing. Average weekly hours of production workers 

in manufacturing fell by 0.2 hour to 41.1 hours, and average 

overtime was down by 0.2 hour to 3.9 hours. 

Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private nonfarm sector rose by 7 cents in 

December, or 0.4 percent. This followed gains of 3 cents in 

October and 7 cents in November. In 2007, average hourly 

earnings grew by 3.7 percent, following an increase of 4.3 

percent in 2006. 

Turning to the measures from our survey of households, the 

unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point in December to 

5.0 percent; a year earlier the jobless rate was 4.4 percent. 

Over the year, unemployment rates increased for nearly all of 

the major worker groups. The number of unemployed persons grew 

to 7.7 million in December, up from 6.8 million a year earlier. 

The household survey contains questions that identify reasons 
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for unemployment, and in December, there were increases in the 

numbers of unemployed job losers and reentrants to the labor 

force. 

Total employment declined to 146.2 million over the month 

and was essentially unchanged over the year. The employmentpopulation ratio, at 62.7 percent in December, was down by 0.3 

percentage point over the month and by 0.7 percentage point over 

the year. The number of discouraged workers grew over the year 

to 363,000 in December (not seasonally adjusted). Discouraged 

workers are those persons outside the labor force who are not 

searching for work because they believe their job search efforts 

would be unsuccessful. 

Data users are reminded that seasonal adjustment factors 

for the household survey are updated each year with the release 

of December’s data. Seasonally adjusted estimates going back 5 

years--to January 2003--are subject to revision. 

To summarize December’s labor market developments, the 

unemployment rate rose to 5.0 percent; it was 4.4 percent a year 

earlier. Payroll employment was essentially unchanged in 

December. Over the year, 1.3 million jobs were added, compared 

with 2.3 million in 2006.