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 7, 2005

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in 

December, with gains occurring in several service-providing 

industries. A total of 2.2 million jobs were added to 

payrolls in 2004. The unemployment rate was unchanged in 

December at 5.4 percent but was down from 5.7 percent a 

year earlier.

Among the major industry sectors, the largest job gain 

in December was in education and health services (47,000), 

principally in health care and social assistance. Overall, 

education and health services added 402,000 jobs in 2004. 

Employment in professional and business services also 

was up in December. Within this sector, employment rose 

over the month in architectural and engineering services 

and in computer systems design. Over the year, 

professional and business services added 546,000 jobs. The 
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temporary help industry accounted for about two-fifths of 

this increase, or 206,000 jobs. There also were 

substantial over-the-year gains in architectural and 

engineering services, computer systems design, and 

management and consulting services.

Employment in financial activities rose by 14,000 over 

the month and by 140,000 in 2004. Within this sector, 

employment in the finance and insurance industry increased 

in December, mainly due to job growth in its credit 

intermediation component. Real estate employment was 

little changed in December. Over the year, employment in 

financial activities was buoyed by continued strength in 

the housing market. Credit intermediation added 64,000 

jobs, and real estate gained 42,000. 

Wholesale trade employment continued to trend up in 

December. Over the year, the industry added 97,000 jobs, 

with most of the gain in its durable goods and electronic 

market components. In retail trade, employment edged down 

in December after seasonal adjustment. Over the year, 

however, retailers added 169,000 jobs, with large gains in 

building material and garden supply stores and in clothing 

stores.

While government employment was little changed in 

December, the sector added 172,000 jobs in 2004. All of 
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this growth occurred at the State and local levels, 

especially in education. At the Federal level, the U.S. 

Postal Service continued to shed jobs during the year, 

while employment in the rest of the Federal government was 

about unchanged. 

In the goods-producing sector, construction employment 

was little changed in December. However, the industry 

added 258,000 jobs in 2004, reflecting the ongoing strength 

in homebuilding. 

Manufacturing employment was about unchanged in 

December. For the first time since 1997, the number of 

factory jobs grew over a calendar year (up 76,000 in 2004); 

most of the growth occurred early in the year. In 

manufacturing, both the average workweek (40.5 hours) and 

factory overtime (4.5 hours) were unchanged in December.

Average hourly earnings for production or 

nonsupervisory workers rose by 2 cents in December, 

matching the increase in the prior month. Over the 12 

months ending in December, hourly earnings increased by 2.7 

percent. 

Turning now to our survey of households, I would 

remind data users that this is the month in which we revise 

previously published seasonally adjusted estimates. Data 

going back 5 years–-to January 2000—-are subject to 
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revision. All of the seasonally adjusted household data in 

today’s news release reflect these revisions. 

In December, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 

5.4 percent, and the number of unemployed held at 8.0 

million. Since July, the unemployment rate has been 5.4 or 

5.5 percent, slightly below the levels that prevailed early 

in the year. The employment-population ratio was little 

changed over the month at 62.4 percent. 

The labor force participation rate was 66.0 percent in 

December. The rate has changed little recently, after 

trending down from early 2000 through early 2004. The 

recent trend in overall labor force participation reflects 

long-term structural and demographic shifts as well as more 

short-term business cycle fluctuations. 

Looking at movements in labor force participation by 

age, the sharpest decline over the past several years 

occurred among young workers, both men and women. At 61.3 

percent in December, the participation rate for those aged 

16 to 24 was about 5 percentage points lower than in early 

2000. The participation rate for men in this age group 

also had trended down in the 1990s, while the rate for 

women was little changed.
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Since the beginning of 2000, participation also was 

down for the 25- to 54-year age group. The participation 

rate for men in this age group decreased to 90.3 percent by 

the end of 2004, and has been gradually trending down since 

the early 1950s. After peaking at just over 77 percent in 

early 2000, the labor force participation rate for women 25 

to 54 years old edged down to 75.2 percent by the close of 

2004.

In contrast to the recent declines in participation 

among the other age groups, the labor force participation 

rate for persons age 55 and over continued to trend up. 

From early 2000 to the end of 2004, the rate for 

individuals in this age group rose by about 4 percentage 

points, to 36.6 percent. 

To summarize the labor market data for December, 

nonfarm employment rose by 157,000, with increases in 

several service-providing industries. Employment gains 

totaled 2.2 million in 2004. The unemployment rate 

remained at 5.4 percent in December, down from 5.7 percent 

a year earlier.