FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.S.T.

FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2004

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

Kathleen P. Utgoff

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

before the

Joint Economic Committee

UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Friday, March 5, 2004

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the labor 

market data that we released this morning.

Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed in 

February (+21,000), as the number of jobs held steady in 

most major industries. Since August 2003, total payroll 

employment has risen by 364,000. The unemployment rate was 

5.6 percent, unchanged over the month but down from its 

recent peak in June 2003.
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Turning first to our payroll survey data, construction 

employment declined in February (-24,000) following an 

increase (+34,000) in January. Taking a longer view, 

employment in construction has trended upward since March 

of last year; over the period, 123,000 jobs have been 

added.

Employment in manufacturing basically was unchanged in 

February (-3,000). The rate of job loss in our Nation’s 

factories has moderated quite a bit since last summer. The 

improvement has been more pronounced in durable goods 

manufacturing. In fact, employment in a few durable goods 

industries, such as fabricated metals and wood products, is 

up slightly in recent months. For manufacturing overall, 

the factory workweek edged up in February to 41.0 hours, 

and overtime hours were unchanged at 4.5 hours. Both 

measures are up substantially since last summer.

Also within the goods-producing sector, mining 

employment continued to trend slowly upward in February; 

oil and gas extraction has accounted for much of the recent 

growth.

None of the major segments of the service-providing 

sector showed a significant employment change in February. 

Wholesale trade employment was unchanged following 3 months 

of growth. Among retailers overall, there has been no net 
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job growth since the onset of the holiday shopping season 

last fall. Employment in a few retail components continued 

to edge up in February, notably building material and 

garden supply stores. Employment was essentially flat in 

financial activities in February, although the securities 

component continued to add jobs. Employment in securities 

is up by 18,000 since August. Credit intermediation, which 

includes mortgage banking, has lost 22,000 jobs over the 

same period.

 The job total in information was little changed in 

February; employment declines in the industry have eased 

since last fall. As with other industries, this represents 

somewhat of an improvement, given that the information 

sector had lost 15 percent of its jobs between March 2001 

and October 2003.

There was little employment change in professional and 

business services overall in February. Within the sector, 

temporary help services added 32,000 jobs over the month. 

With the exception of a small decline in January, 

employment in temporary help has been climbing steadily 

since April 2003. Over the period, there has been a net 

gain of 215,000 jobs. 

Employment in health care and social assistance 

continued to trend upward in February. However, the 
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average gain for the first 2 months of this year has been 

about half the average monthly increase for 2003. Hospital 

employment declined over the month, while there was a job 

gain in social assistance, largely in child day care 

services. 

Employment in State government rose by 20,000 over the 

month and has trended up since last summer. Over the same 

period, employment is down in local government.

Average hourly earnings for private production or 

nonsupervisory workers rose by 3 cents in February. Over 

the 12 months ending in February, hourly earnings increased 

by 1.6 percent.

Taking a look at some of the measures obtained from 

our survey of households, the unemployment rate was 

unchanged at 5.6 percent in February. The number of 

unemployed persons also was little changed at about 8.2 

million. Both measures are below their recent highs of 

June 2003. Jobless rates for major worker groups either 

remained the same or showed little movement over the month.

The labor force participation rate fell to 65.9 

percent in February, reflecting a steep drop-off in the 

number of men in the labor force. The employmentpopulation ratio was down over the month to 62.2 percent; 

it held at or near that level for most of 2003. 
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The number of persons working part time who would have 

preferred full-time employment declined over the month to 

4.4 million. It had been at about 4.8 million during the 

last several months. 

Among those not in the labor force, the number of 

discouraged workers--those who have stopped seeking work 

because of discouragement over their job prospects--was 

484,000 in February, about the same as a year earlier but 

well above the levels that existed prior to the recent 

recession.

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment was little 

changed in February as the job totals in most industries 

held steady, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.6 

percent.

My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your 

questions.