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 

Keith Hall 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

before the 

Joint Economic Committee 

UNITED STATES CONGRESS 

Friday, March 5, 2010

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 was little changed (-36,000) in 

February, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent. 

Employment fell in construction and information, while temporary 

help services added jobs. Severe winter weather in parts of the 

country may have affected payroll employment and hours in 

February. However, as I will explain in a moment, there are too 

many unknowns to say precisely how much the weather might have 

affected these measures. 
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Construction employment fell by 64,000 in February, about 

in line with the average monthly job loss over the prior 6 

months. Job losses continued throughout the industry, although 

nonresidential specialty trades again accounted for much of the 

over-the-month decline. In the information industry, employment 

fell by 18,000. 

Temporary help services employment increased by 48,000 over 

the month. Since last September, this industry has added 

284,000 jobs. Health care employment continued to trend up in 

February. Employment in most other industries showed little or 

no change. 

Average weekly hours for all employees in the private 

sector decreased by one-tenth of an hour in February. Average 

weekly hours declined more significantly in construction and 

manufacturing, 0.5 and 0.4 hour, respectively. These declines 

likely reflect time lost due to the severe winter weather. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees in the private 

sector rose by 3 cents in February to $22.46. Over the past 12 

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

January 2009 to January 2010, the Consumer Price Index for All 

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

Turning now to data from the survey of households, most key 

labor force measures were essentially unchanged in February. 

The unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent, with jobless 
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rates for the major worker groups showing little or no change. 

Of the 14.9 million unemployed in February, the proportion who 

had been jobless for 27 weeks or more was 40.9 percent, little 

different from the all-time high of 41.2 percent reached in 

January. 

The number of individuals working part time who preferred 

full-time work rose from 8.3 to 8.8 million in February, 

partially offsetting a large decrease in January. Involuntary 

part-time employment levels had held at or near 9.2 million in 

the final months of 2009. 

Before closing, I would like to return to the issue of how 

the severe winter weather in February may have affected the 

payroll employment estimates released today. Major snowstorms 

struck parts of the country during the reference period for our 

establishment survey. Many schools, government agencies, and 

businesses closed temporarily, and many people were off work for 

a time because of the storms. 

In the establishment survey, workers who do not receive any 

pay for the entire pay period are not counted as employed. 

Therefore, it is possible that the storms had some negative 

impact on payroll employment. However, not every closure or 

temporary absence causes a drop in employment. Workers are 

counted as employed in the establishment survey if they are paid 

for a single hour during the reference pay period, whether they 
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worked or not. Also, half of all workers have bi-weekly, semimonthly, or monthly pay periods. I would assume that most of 

them worked during the part of the pay period that preceded or 

followed the snow events. In addition, we do not know how many 

workers may have been added to payrolls for snow removal, 

cleanup, and repairs due to the storms. Nor do we know how new 

hiring or separations were affected by the weather. For those 

reasons, we cannot say how much February's payroll employment 

was affected by the severe weather. 

In our household survey, persons with a job who miss work 

for weather-related events are counted as employed whether or 

not they are paid for the time off. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment was little changed 

in February, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent. 

My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your 

questions.