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

Friday, January 9, 2004

Nonfarm payroll employment was unchanged (+1,000) in 

December following gains totaling 277,000 in the 4 previous 

months. The unemployment rate, at 5.7 percent in December, 

continued to trend down from its recent peak of 6.3 percent 

in June. 

Over the month, job losses in retail trade and 

manufacturing were offset by small gains in several service 

industries and construction. The number of jobs in retail 

trade fell by 38,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, as 

hiring for the holidays was less than usual in general 

merchandise stores and some other retail industries. 

Employment in manufacturing continued to decline in 

December. The loss of 26,000 jobs was about in line with 

the average monthly decrease for September through November 

(21,000) but well below the average decrease for the first 
2

8 months of the year (54,000). During 2003, manufacturers 

shed about half a million jobs. In December, the average 

workweek in manufacturing edged down by 0.1 hour and 

factory overtime was up by 0.1 hour. 

Employment edged down in the transportation and 

warehousing industry over the month, largely due to a 

strike in warehousing. Banks and mortgage companies also 

reduced payrolls in December, reflecting reduced mortgage 

refinancing activity. 

Within government, seasonal hiring in the postal 

service was smaller than usual, resulting in an employment 

decline after seasonal adjustment. Over the year, total 

government employment was down by 88,000, reflecting 

declines at the Federal and state levels. Local government 

employment was little changed over the year, compared with 

gains of 182,000 in 2002 and 368,000 in 2001. 

Several industries added jobs over the month. 

Employment in professional and business services rose by 

45,000. Within this industry, temporary help firms, which 

supply workers to other employers, added jobs for the 8th 

straight month, with employment increasing by 194,000 over 

the period. Job growth continued in education and health 

services in December. This industry gained 301,000 jobs in 

2003, well below the increases of the prior 2 years. 
3

Construction employment continued on the upward trend 

that began early in 2003. Since February, the industry has 

added 173,000 jobs, mostly in specialty trade contractors. 

Average hourly earnings for production or 

nonsupervisory workers rose by 3 cents in December after a 

1 cent gain the prior month. Over the 12 months ending in 

December, hourly earnings increased by 2.0 percent. 

Turning to data from our survey of households, the 

number of unemployed persons, 8.4 million, and the 

unemployment rate, 5.7 percent, continued to trend downward 

in December. Since June, the rate has declined by 0.6 

percentage point, and the number of unemployed has fallen 

by 847,000. 

The labor force declined by 309,000 in December; the 

labor force participation rate—the number of people in the 

labor force as a percent of the population—declined by 0.2 

percentage point to 66.0 percent. In December 2002, the 

participation rate was 66.4 percent. 

 It should be noted that this is the month in which we 

revise previously published seasonally adjusted household 

survey estimates. Data going back 5 years—to January 1999—

are subject to revision. All of the seasonally adjusted 

household data in today’s news release reflect these 

revisions. 
4

 In addition, beginning with this release, BLS has 

converted to the use of concurrent seasonal adjustment to 

produce seasonally adjusted labor force estimates from the 

CPS. Concurrent seasonal adjustment uses all available 

monthly estimates, including those for the most current 

month, in developing seasonal factors. This is a change 

from the previous practice of projecting seasonal factors 

for the CPS data twice a year. As a result of this change 

in methodology, BLS will no longer project seasonal factors 

for the CPS estimates. Historical seasonally adjusted 

household survey data will continue to be revised only at 

the end of each calendar year. BLS introduced the use of 

concurrent seasonal adjustment for the establishment survey 

data from the Current Employment Statistics program in June 

2003.

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment was flat in 

December after 4 months of gains totaling 277,000. Job 

losses occurred over the month in retail trade and 

manufacturing, while there were gains in temporary help 

services and several other industries. The unemployment 

rate continued to trend down from its midyear high to 5.7 

percent.