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 

Friday, January 7, 2011

In December, the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage 

point to 9.4 percent, and nonfarm payroll employment increased 

by 103,000. From a recent low point in December 2009, payroll 

employment has risen by 1.1 million, or an average of 94,000 per 

month. In December, employment increased in leisure and 

hospitality and in health care but was little changed in other 

major industries. 

The leisure and hospitality sector added 47,000 jobs over 

the month, with continued gains in food services. Employment 

also rose in amusements, gambling, and recreation. Since a 

recent low point in leisure and hospitality employment in 

December 2009, the industry has added nearly a quarter of a 

million jobs. 

Health care employment expanded by 36,000 in December and 

by 266,000 in all of 2010. Over the month, employment continued 
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to rise in several health-related services, including outpatient 

care centers, hospitals, and nursing and residential care 

facilities. Employment in temporary help services also 

continued to trend up in December and has increased by 495,000 

since a recent low in September 2009. 

Over the month, job growth continued in support activities 

for mining operations; the industry has added 77,000 jobs since 

a recent low in October 2009. 

Construction employment changed little in December and, on 

net, has been essentially flat since March. In contrast, job 

losses from August 2006 through February 2010 totaled 2.1 

million. In December, retail trade employment was little 

changed, although job gains in the industry totaled 116,000 for 

all of 2010. Over the month, motor vehicle and parts dealers 

added 8,000 jobs, in line with the trend since July. December's 

employment gain among motor vehicle and parts dealers was offset 

by a loss of 8,000 in health and personal care stores. 

Manufacturing employment was little changed over the month. 

Following modest job growth earlier in 2010, manufacturing 

employment has been relatively flat, on net, since May. The 

factory workweek for all employees was down 0.1 hour in December 

but was 1.5 hours above the low point of 38.7 hours in June 

2009. 
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Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 3 cents in December to $22.78. Over the past 

12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.8 percent. 

From November 2009 to November 2010, the Consumer Price Index 

for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.1 percent. 

Turning to measures from our survey of households, the 

jobless rate declined by 0.4 percentage point in December to 9.4 

percent. A year earlier, the unemployment rate was 9.9 percent. 

The number of unemployed persons also declined over the month, 

from 15.0 million to 14.5 million, largely reflecting a decrease 

in the number of unemployed adult men. Among the unemployed, 

44.3 percent had been jobless for 27 weeks or more in December, 

up from 40.1 percent a year earlier. 

The labor force participation rate edged down in December 

to 64.3 percent and was slightly lower than a year earlier (64.7 

percent). The number of persons working part time who would 

have preferred full-time employment was essentially unchanged in 

December at 8.9 million. The number of discouraged workers grew 

over the year by 389,000 to 1.3 million in December (not 

seasonally adjusted). Discouraged workers are persons outside 

the labor force who are not looking 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 
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of the December data. Seasonally adjusted estimates going back 

5 years--to January 2006--were subject to revision. 

Summarizing labor market developments for December, the 

jobless rate fell to 9.4 percent, and nonfarm payroll employment 

rose by 103,000.