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 3, 2010

In August, nonfarm payroll employment changed little 

(-54,000), and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6 

percent. Large declines in federal government employment 

continued as additional Census 2010 workers completed their 

temporary jobs. Private-sector employment continued to trend up 

modestly (+67,000) and has increased by an average of 72,000 per 

month over the past 4 months. 

In August, federal government employment fell for the third 

consecutive month. The number of temporary Census 2010 workers 

declined by 114,000, following declines of 225,000 and 143,000 

in June and July, respectively. This leaves 82,000 temporary 

decennial census workers on the payroll. 

Health care continued to add jobs (+28,000) in August, with 

employment increases in both ambulatory health care services and 

hospitals. Employment in mining (+8,000) also continued to 

expand, reflecting ongoing job gains in support activities for 

mining. 

Temporary help services employment was up over the month 

(+17,000), following virtually no gain in July. Since September 

of last year, this industry has added 392,000 jobs. 
2 

Manufacturing employment fell by 27,000 over the month, 

mostly offsetting an increase in July. As with July’s gain, 

most of August’s decline occurred in motor vehicles and parts 

manufacturing, where a number of plants deviated from their 

normal retooling practice of shutting down in July and reopening 

in August. Over the 2-month span, employment was essentially 

unchanged in motor vehicles and parts. 

In construction, employment was up by 19,000 in August; 

however, about half of the increase was due to the return of 

10,000 workers to their jobs following a strike in July. On 

net, construction employment is about unchanged since March. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 6 cents in August to $22.66. Over the past 12 

months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent. From 

July 2009 to July 2010, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 

Consumers increased by 1.3 percent. 

Turning to measures from the survey of households, the 

unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in August. From May through 

August, the jobless rate remained in a range of 9.5 to 9.7 

percent. The number of unemployed persons who had been jobless 

for 6 months or more declined to 6.2 million in August, or 42 

percent of the unemployed. 

The employment-population ratio was 58.5 percent in August, 

essentially unchanged from the prior 2 months. Among the 

employed, the number of individuals working part time who 

preferred full-time work rose by 331,000 over the month to 8.9 

million. 

In summary, both nonfarm payroll employment and the 

unemployment rate were little changed in August. Job losses 

continued in federal government as Census 2010 activities scaled 

back, while private-sector employment continued on a modest 

upward trend.