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 

John M. Galvin 

Acting Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, March 9, 2012

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 227,000 in 

February, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3 

percent. Over the last 3 months, nonfarm job growth has 

averaged 245,000 per month. Since a recent low point in 

February 2010, payroll employment has risen by 3.5 million. 

Over the month, employment rose in professional and business 

services, health care and social assistance, leisure and 

hospitality, manufacturing, and mining. 

Employment in professional and business services increased 

by 82,000 in February. Employment in temporary help services 

rose by 45,000; job gains also occurred in computer systems 

design (+10,000) and in management and technical consulting 

services (+7,000). 

Over the month, health care and social assistance added 

61,000 jobs. In health care, employment increased in hospitals 
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(+15,000), offices of physicians (+10,000), and outpatient care 

centers (+4,000). Over the past 12 months, employment in health 

care rose by 360,000. Employment in leisure and hospitality 

also increased in February, as food services and drinking places 

added 41,000 jobs. 

Manufacturing employment rose by 31,000, with all of the 

increase in durable goods manufacturing. Durable goods 

manufacturing has added 444,000 jobs since a recent trough in 

January 2010. In February, employment grew in fabricated metal 

products, transportation equipment, machinery, and furniture. 

Mining added 7,000 jobs over the month. Since its most 

recent employment low in October 2009, the industry has added 

180,000 jobs. Seven in ten jobs gained during this period have 

been in support activities for mining. 

In February, employment in most other major industries 

changed little. Within retail trade, a sizable job loss in 

general merchandise stores (-35,000) more than offset a gain in 

January (+23,000). Employment in motor vehicles and parts 

dealers continued to trend up in February. 

Employment in government has been flat for the past 2 

months. Since August 2008, employment in local government and 

state government has declined by 498,000 and 149,000, 

respectively. 
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Average hourly earnings of all employees on nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 3 cents in February to $23.31. Over the 

past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.9 

percent. From January 2011 to January 2012, the Consumer Price 

Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.9 percent. 

Turning now to data from the survey of households, the 

unemployment rate held at 8.3 percent in February, with jobless 

rates for the major worker groups showing little or no change. 

The number of persons unemployed was essentially unchanged at 

12.8 million, and the proportion who had been jobless for 27 

weeks or more was 42.6 percent. 

In February, both the labor force and the number of 

employed persons increased. The labor force participation rate 

and the employment-population ratio edged up to 63.9 and 58.6 

percent, respectively. Among the employed, the number of 

individuals working part time who preferred full-time work was 

about unchanged at 8.1 million. 

Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work 

in February, 2.6 million were classified as marginally attached 

to the labor force, little changed from a year earlier. These 

individuals wanted a job, were available for work, and had 

looked for a job within the last 12 months. The number of 

discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who 
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believed that no jobs were available for them, was about 

unchanged in February from a year earlier at 1.0 million. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 227,000 

in February, and the unemployment rate remained at 8.3 percent.