FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.S.T.

FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2006

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

before the

Joint Economic Committee

UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Friday, March 10, 2006

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the 

employment and unemployment data that we released this 

morning. 

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in 

February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 

4.8 percent. February’s employment increase reflected 

gains in construction, mining, and several serviceproviding industries. 

Within the goods-producing sector, construction 

employment increased by 41,000 in February, following 

another sizeable gain in January. Over the past 12 months, 
2

job growth in construction has totaled 346,000. In 

February, employment continued to rise in mining, mainly in 

support activities, especially those for oil and gas 

operations. 

Manufacturing employment overall was virtually 

unchanged in February. There were, however, offsetting 

movements in several industries. The largest job losses 

were in motor vehicles and parts and primary metals. Job 

gains occurred in machinery, petroleum products, and

computer and electronic products. The manufacturing 

workweek (at 41.0 hours) and factory overtime (at 4.6 

hours) each rose by 0.1 hour. 

Over the month, financial activities added 22,000 

jobs, reflecting increases in depository institutions and

in insurance carriers. Health care employment expanded by 

18,000, with continued growth in hospitals, doctors’ 

offices, and home health care. Professional and business 

services, private education, food services and drinking 

places, and government also had job gains in February. 

Average hourly earnings for private production or 

nonsupervisory workers rose by 5 cents in February, 

following increases of 7 cents in both December and 

January. Over the year, hourly earnings increased by 3.5 
3

percent. The average workweek was down by 0.1 hour in 

February to 33.7 hours.

Turning to data from the household survey, both the 

number of unemployed persons (7.2 million) and the 

unemployment rate (4.8 percent) were little changed over 

the month. The number of persons unemployed for 27 weeks 

or more returned to its December level of 1.4 million,

after declining in January. These long-term unemployed 

constituted 19.0 percent of all unemployed persons, down 

slightly from a year earlier. 

Total employment and the labor force continued to trend 

up in February. However, the employment-population ratio 

has held steady in recent months, and the labor force 

participation rate has shown little movement for about 2 1/2

years. 

This month, we again report on the labor force status 

of survey respondents who evacuated from their homes due to 

Hurricane Katrina. The data are derived from a special set 

of questions that have been included in the household 

survey since October to gather information about evacuees. 

The estimates do not account for all persons who evacuated 

from their homes due to Hurricane Katrina. Information is 

not gathered on those evacuees who remain outside the scope 
4

of the survey, such as those currently living in hotels or 

shelters.

The February data indicate that there were about 1 

million persons age 16 and over who evacuated from their 

August residences due to Hurricane Katrina. In February, 

about one-half of the evacuees were back in the homes they 

vacated in August. Among Katrina evacuees identified in 

February, 58.1 percent were in the labor force, and their 

unemployment rate was 12.6 percent. Unemployment rates 

were much lower for those evacuees who had returned home

(4.8 percent) than for those evacuees who had not (22.6 

percent). 

To summarize February’s labor market data, nonfarm 

payroll employment rose by 243,000, and the unemployment

rate was little changed at 4.8 percent. Payroll employment 

has increased by 2.1 million over the year, and the 

unemployment rate is down by about half a percentage point.

My colleagues and I now would be glad to respond to 

your questions.