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

Philip L. Rones

Acting Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, January 5, 2007

Payroll employment rose by 167,000 in December, and 

the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.5 percent. In 

2006, payroll employment increased by 1.8 million, or an 

average of 153,000 per month. Over the month, there were 

job gains in several service-providing industries. 

Employment in construction was about unchanged, and the 

number of manufacturing jobs continued to trend down. 

Average hourly earnings increased by 8 cents, or 0.5 

percent.

Employment in professional and business services rose 

by 50,000 in December. Over the year, this industry has 

added 420,000 jobs. Over the month, there were job gains 

of 13,000 in businesses that supply services to buildings 

and dwellings and 7,000 in management consulting services. 
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Employment continued to trend up in architectural and 

engineering services and in computer systems design. All 

of these industries had significant over-the-year gains in 

employment. In contrast, temporary help services 

employment was essentially unchanged over the year.

Health care continued to add jobs, with a gain of 

31,000 in December and 324,000 over the year. Over the 

month, employment grew by 14,000 in ambulatory health care 

(which includes doctors’ offices). Employment also 

increased in hospitals and in nursing and residential care 

facilities. 

In December, employment in food services and drinking 

places expanded by 23,000; job gains for 2006 totaled 

304,000. Within financial activities, employment continued 

to trend up over the month in credit intermediation and in 

insurance; over the year, these industries have added 

62,000 and 46,000 jobs, respectively. Transportation and 

warehousing added jobs in December, with gains in air 

transportation and in warehousing and storage. Over the 

year, transportation and warehousing employment increased 

by 106,000.

Employment was up in the information sector in 

December, largely due to an increase in its 

telecommunications component. Over the year, however, 
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employment in both the information sector and 

telecommunications was essentially flat. Retail trade 

employment was little changed in December, following a 

large increase in November. Over the year, retail 

employment edged down. 

Mining employment trended up in December. Over the 

year, employment in mining has grown by 54,000, or 9 

percent, mainly in support activities. Employment in 

construction was about unchanged over the month, following 

job losses in October and November that totaled 53,000. 

For all of 2006, construction employment was little 

changed, following an increase of 295,000 in 2005. In 

2006, job gains in nonresidential specialty trades and in 

heavy construction were largely offset by a loss in 

residential specialty trades. 

Manufacturing employment continued to trend down 

(-12,000) in December; over the year, the industry lost 

72,000 jobs. Over the month, employment fell in motor 

vehicles, primary metals, and textile mills. The factory 

workweek was unchanged at 41.0 hours, and overtime 

increased by 0.1 hour to 4.3 hours. 

Average hourly earnings for private production and 

nonsupervisory workers increased 8 cents in December to 
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$17.04, a gain of 0.5 percent. Over the year, average 

hourly earnings rose by 4.2 percent.

Turning now to the survey of households, data users 

are reminded that, with the release of December's data, we 

update seasonal adjustment factors for the household 

survey. Data going back 5 years--to January 2002--are 

subject to revision. All of the seasonally adjusted 

household data released today incorporate the updated 

seasonal factors. 

In December, the unemployment rate held at 4.5 

percent; a year earlier the jobless rate was 4.9 percent. 

The number of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged 

in December at 6.8 million, down from 7.3 million a year 

earlier. The civilian labor force edged up in December to 

152.8 million. The labor force participation rate, at 66.4 

percent, has trended up from 66.0 percent a year earlier. 

The employment-population ratio, at 63.4 percent, was 

essentially unchanged in December, but was up 0.6 

percentage point from a year earlier. The number of 

discouraged workers fell over the year to 274,000 (not 

seasonally adjusted). Discouraged workers are those 

persons outside the labor force who had stopped looking for 

work because they believed their job search efforts would 

be unsuccessful.
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In summary, nonfarm employment rose by 167,000 in 

December, and by 1.8 million in 2006. The unemployment 

rate held at 4.5 percent in December, down from 4.9 percent 

a year earlier.