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 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, October 4, 2019

The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 

3.5 percent in September, and nonfarm payroll employment 

increased by 136,000. Employment continued to trend up in health 

care and in professional and business services.

Thus far in 2019, monthly job growth has averaged 161,000,

compared with an average monthly gain of 223,000 in 2018. 

(Incorporating revisions for July and August, which increased 

employment by 45,000, monthly job gains have averaged 157,000 

over the past 3 months.)

Health care employment rose by 39,000 in September, with

gains occurring in ambulatory health care services (+29,000) and

hospitals (+8,000). Over the year, employment in health care has

risen by 423,000.
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In September, employment continued to trend up in 

professional and business services (+34,000). The industry has 

added an average of 35,000 jobs per month so far this year, down 

from 47,000 per month in 2018.

Government employment also continued to trend up in 

September (+22,000). Federal hiring for the 2020 Census was 

negligible (+1,000). Over the year, employment in government has 

increased by 147,000, largely in local government.

Employment in transportation and warehousing edged up by 

16,000 in September, with gains in transit and ground passenger 

transportation (+11,000) and in couriers and messengers 

(+4,000).

In September, employment changed little in retail trade 

(-11,000). Job losses in clothing and clothing accessories

stores (-14,000) were partially offset by job gains in food and 

beverage stores (+9,000). Since reaching a peak in January 2017, 

retail trade has lost 197,000 jobs.

Employment showed little change over the month in other 

major industries--including mining, construction, manufacturing, 

wholesale trade, information, financial activities, and leisure 

and hospitality.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private 

nonfarm payrolls, at $28.09, were little changed in September 

(-1 cent), following an 11-cent gain in August. Over the past 12 
3

months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.9 percent. From 

August 2018 to August 2019, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.8 percent (on a 

seasonally adjusted basis).

Turning to measures from the survey of households, the 

unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 3.5

percent in September. The last time the rate was this low was in

December 1969, when it also was 3.5 percent. The number of unemployed 

people fell by 275,000 over the month to 5.8 million.

Among the unemployed, the number of people searching for

work for 27 weeks or more was little changed at 1.3 million in 

September. These long-term unemployed accounted for 22.7 percent 

of the unemployed.

The labor force participation rate, at 63.2 percent, was 

unchanged in September. The employment-population ratio, at 

61.0 percent, changed little. Over the year, the employmentpopulation ratio was up by 0.6 percentage point.

In September, 4.4 million people were working part time 

for economic reasons (also referred to as involuntary part-time

workers), little changed from the previous month.

Among those neither working nor looking for work in 

September, 1.3 million were considered marginally attached to 

the labor force, down by 278,000 from a year earlier. (People 

who are marginally attached to the labor force had not looked 
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for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, 

were available for work, and had looked for a job within the 

last 12 months.) Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally 

attached who believed no jobs were available for them, numbered 

321,000 in September, little changed from a year earlier.

In summary, the unemployment rate declined to 3.5 percent 

in September, and nonfarm payroll employment rose by 136,000.