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

before the

Joint Economic Committee

UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Friday, April 3, 2009

Madam Chair and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and 

unemployment data we released this morning.

Labor market conditions continued to deteriorate in March. 

Total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 663,000, and the 

unemployment rate increased from 8.1 to 8.5 percent. Since the 

beginning of the recession in December 2007, job losses have 

totaled 5.1 million, 3.3 million of which occurred in just the 

past 5 months. These declines have been widespread across 

industry sectors, but particularly sharp in manufacturing, 

construction, and temporary help services. Together, these 
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industries have accounted for nearly two-thirds of the job loss

during the recession.

In March, manufacturing employment fell by 161,000, with 

job losses spread throughout the sector. Since the start of the 

recession, manufacturing has shed 1.5 million jobs, with about 

60 percent of the loss occurring in the past 5 months. In 

March, the average workweek in manufacturing decreased by

two-tenths of an hour.

Construction employment declined by 126,000 over the month. 

Since the beginning of the recession, employment has dropped by 

about 1.1 million, with more than half of that total occurring 

in the past 5 months.

In March, employment continued to contract throughout most 

of the service-providing sector. Temporary help services 

employment shrank by 72,000 over the month. Employment in the 

industry is down by about three-quarters of a million since the 

recession began, with over half of that coming in the past 5 

months. In March, other large job losses occurred in retail 

trade (-48,000), financial activities (-43,000), transportation 

and warehousing (-34,000), accommodation and food services

(-32,000), and wholesale trade (-31,000).

Health care employment continued to trend up in March, 

although the pace of job growth appears to have slowed in the 

past 3 months. In the first quarter of 2009, the industry added 
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an average of 17,000 jobs per month, compared with a monthly 

average of 30,000 in 2008. 

Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private sector rose by 3 cents in March, or 0.2 

percent. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have 

increased by 3.4 percent. From February 2008 to February 2009, 

the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage 

Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) fell by 0.5 percent.

The major indicators from our household survey also reflect 

weaker labor market conditions. In March, the unemployment rate 

rose by four-tenths of one percentage point to 8.5 percent, and

the number of unemployed persons reached 13.2 million. Since 

the recession began in December 2007, unemployment has surged by 

5.6 million; job losers have accounted for about 80 percent of 

the increase, with returning workers and new entrants to the 

labor market making up smaller portions.

In March, the number of individuals experiencing long 

spells of joblessness rose by 265,000 to 3.2 million. Nearly 

one in four of the unemployed had been jobless for 27 weeks or 

more, the highest ratio since mid-1983.

Over the month, the employment–population ratio slipped to 

59.9 percent, 2.8 percentage points lower than at the beginning 

of the recession and the lowest level since July 1985. Among 

the employed, the number of persons working part time who would 
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prefer to be working full time increased by 423,000 over the 

month to 9.0 million. Since December 2007, this measure has 

risen by 4.4 million.

Summarizing the labor market developments for March, 

payroll employment fell by 663,000, and the unemployment rate 

climbed to 8.5 percent. Since the beginning of the recession in 

December 2007, job losses have totaled 5.1 million.

My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your 

questions.