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

Keith Hall

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, November 7, 2008

Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 240,000 in October, and 

the unemployment rate rose from 6.1 to 6.5 percent. Job losses 

over the last 3 months totaled 651,000, after accounting for 

downward revisions to employment estimates for August and 

September. So far this year, payroll employment has decreased 

by 1.2 million. 

In October, manufacturing employment continued to fall

(-90,000), with declines occurring throughout the sector. A 

large drop in transportation equipment employment (-40,000)

reflected continued weakness in motor vehicles and parts as well 

as a strike involving 27,000 workers in the aerospace industry. 

Other sizable job losses occurred in fabricated metal products 

(-11,000), furniture (-10,000), wood products (-7,000), and 

plastics and rubber products (-6,000). Manufacturing hours and 

overtime were unchanged at 40.6 and 3.6 hours, respectively. 
2

Construction employment declined by 49,000 over the month. 

Since its peak in September 2006, employment in this industry 

has fallen by 663,000. Most of the declines over this period 

occurred in residential specialty trades (-349,000) and in 

residential building (-199,000).

Retail trade employment fell by 38,000 in October, with the 

largest losses occurring among automobile dealers (-20,000) and 

department stores (-18,000). Wholesale trade employment fell by 

22,000 over the month, with most of the loss occurring in 

durable goods distribution. 

Employment in financial activities declined by 24,000 in 

October; credit intermediation, which includes banking,

accounted for about half of the loss. The securities industry 

shed 6,000 jobs in October, following a loss of 9,000 in 

September. The employment services industry, which includes 

temporary help agencies, continued to contract in October

(-51,000) and has lost about half a million jobs since the most 

recent peak in August 2006.

Health care employment rose by 26,000 in October and by 

348,000 over the past 12 months. Mining added 7,000 jobs over 

the month. Since a low in April 2003, mining employment has 

increased by 246,000 (nearly 50 percent).

Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private sector increased by 4 cents, or 0.2
3

percent, in October. Over the past 12 months, average hourly 

earnings have increased by 3.5 percent. From September 2007 to 

September 2008, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners 

and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose by 5.4 percent.

Turning to labor market measures from the survey of 

households, the unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point 

to 6.5 percent in October. The rate was 4.8 percent a year 

earlier. 

About 10.1 million persons were unemployed in October, an 

increase of 603,000 over the month and 2.8 million over the past 

12 months. About 2.3 million individuals had been unemployed 

for 27 weeks or more, an increase of 249,000 over the month and 

942,000 over the past 12 months. 

Both the labor force participation rate, at 66.1 percent,

and the employment-population ratio, at 61.8 percent, were 

little changed over the month. The employment-population ratio 

has declined by 0.9 percentage point over the year and by 1.6 

percentage points from its recent peak in December 2006. 

The number of persons working part time who would have 

preferred full-time employment increased by 645,000 in October

to 6.7 million. Over the last 12 months, the number of such 

workers has grown by 2.3 million.

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment declined by 240,000 

in October, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent.