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 Daylight Time. 

Statement of 

Keith Hall 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, September 4, 2009

Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 216,000 in August, and 

the unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent. Since the recession 

began in December 2007, payroll employment has dropped by 6.9 

million, and the unemployment rate has increased by 4.8 

percentage points. Job losses have moderated in many industry 

sectors in recent months. 

Construction employment fell by 65,000 in August, about in 

line with the trend since May. From November to April, 

construction job losses averaged 117,000 per month. Since 

December 2007, employment in the industry has fallen by 1.4 

million. Thus far in 2009, job losses in nonresidential and 

heavy construction combined have exceeded losses in the 

residential components. In 2008, the residential components 

accounted for a majority of construction's decline. 
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Employment in manufacturing declined by 63,000 in August. 

The largest job losses were in motor vehicles and parts, 

computer and electronic products, and fabricated metal products. 

Factory employment has declined by 2.0 million since the start 

of the recession, although losses have moderated over the last 2 

months. 

In August, job losses also continued in financial 

activities and wholesale trade. The employment declines in both 

industries have been smaller since May. Over the last 4 months, 

temporary help employment was down an average of 11,000 per 

month, compared with an average decline of 69,000 for the first 

4 months of the year. 

Over the month, employment continued to increase in health 

care, with gains in ambulatory care and in nursing and 

residential care facilities. Health care has continued to add 

jobs during the recession, albeit at a slower pace in 2009. 

Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private sector rose by 6 cents in August to 

$18.65. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have 

risen by 2.6 percent. From July 2008 to July 2009, the Consumer 

Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers declined 

by 2.4 percent. 

Turning now to some measures from our household survey, the 

unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point to 9.7 percent in 
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August. It had been little changed in June and July, after 

increasing by 0.4 or 0.5 percentage point in each of the prior 6 

months. When the recession began in December 2007, the jobless 

rate was 4.9 percent. A total of 14.9 million persons were 

unemployed in August, about twice the number at the start of the 

recession. 

The number of long-term unemployed remained high. In 

August, 5.0 million people had been jobless for more than 6 

months, nearly quadruple the number at the start of the 

recession. 

The employment-population ratio--the proportion of the 

population that has a job--continued to trend down in August. 

At 59.2 percent, it has declined by 3.5 percentage points since 

the recession began. 

Among the employed, there were 9.1 million persons working 

part time in August who would have preferred full-time work. 

The number of such workers has nearly doubled since the start of 

the recession but has been little changed since March. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment fell by 216,000 in 

August, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent.