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 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, February 7, 2020

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 225,000 in January, and 

the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.6 percent. Notable 

employment gains occurred in construction, in health care, and 

in transportation and warehousing. In 2019, job growth averaged 

175,000 per month. 

Incorporating revisions for November and December, which 

increased payroll employment by 7,000, monthly job gains have 

averaged 211,000 over the past 3 months. 

Construction employment rose by 44,000 in January. Job 

gains were concentrated in specialty trade contractors, with 

increases about equally split between the residential (+18,000) 

and nonresidential (+17,000) components. In 2019, construction 

added an average of 12,000 jobs per month.

Employment in health care increased by 36,000 in January, 

about in line with the average monthly gain in 2019 (+29,000).
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Over the month, employment rose in ambulatory care services 

(+23,000) and hospitals (+10,000).

In January, employment in transportation and warehousing 

increased by 28,000, driven by gains in couriers and messengers 

(+14,000) and in warehousing and storage (+6,000). These two 

industries accounted for about four-fifths of the over-the-year 

growth in transportation and warehousing (+106,000). 

Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend up 

in January (+36,000). The industry has added 288,000 jobs over 

the past 6 months. 

Over the month, employment also continued to trend up in 

professional and business services (+21,000). The industry has 

added 390,000 jobs over the year. 

Manufacturing employment changed little in January 

(-12,000) and has shown little movement, on net, over the year. 

Motor vehicles and parts lost 11,000 jobs in January. 

Employment in other major industries--including mining, 

wholesale trade, retail trade, information, financial 

activities, and government--showed little change over the month. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 7 cents in January to $28.44, following a gain 

of 3 cents in December. Over the past 12 months, average hourly 

earnings have risen by 3.1 percent; the over-the-year percent 

change has been 3.0 percent or above for 18 consecutive months. 
3

From December 2018 to December 2019, the Consumer Price Index 

for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.3 percent (on a 

seasonally adjusted basis). 

The major labor market indicators from the survey of 

households continued to show little or no change in January. 

Both the unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent, and the number of 

unemployed people, at 5.9 million, were little changed over the 

month. 

Among the unemployed, the number of people searching for 

work for 27 weeks or more was essentially unchanged at 1.2 

million in January. These long-term unemployed accounted for 

19.9 percent of the unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate edged up to 63.4 percent 

in January. The employment-population ratio was little changed 

at 61.2 percent.

In January, 4.2 million people were working part time for 

economic reasons (also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers), essentially unchanged from the previous month. 

Among those neither working nor looking for work in 

January, 1.3 million were considered marginally attached to the 

labor force, little changed over the month. (People who are 

marginally attached to the labor force 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 
4

months.) Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally 

attached who believed no jobs were available for them, numbered 

337,000 in January, also little changed from a month earlier.

Following our usual practice, there were routine annual 

adjustments to the data from our two surveys. The establishment 

survey data released today reflect the incorporation of annual 

benchmark revisions. Each year, we re-anchor our sample-based 

survey estimates to full universe counts of employment, 

primarily derived from the Quarterly Census of Employment and 

Wages, which counts jobs covered by the unemployment insurance 

tax system. The level of nonfarm payroll employment in March 

2019 was revised down by 514,000, or -0.3 percent. The average 

benchmark revision over the past 10 years was plus or minus 0.2

percent. (Additional information about the benchmark revision 

and its impact is contained in our news release and on our 

website at www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbmart.htm.) 

Household survey data for January reflect updated 

population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Again this 

year, the impact of the new population controls on the 

unemployment rate and other ratios was negligible. (Further 

information can be found in our news release and on our website 

at www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cps-pop-control-adjustments.pdf.) 
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Summarizing the labor market developments in January, 

nonfarm payroll employment rose by 225,000, and the unemployment 

rate was little changed at 3.6 percent.