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 

William J. Wiatrowski 

Acting Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, September 7, 2018

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 201,000 in August, and 

the unemployment rate held at 3.9 percent. Employment increased 

in professional and business services, health care, wholesale 

trade, transportation and warehousing, and mining. 

Incorporating revisions for June and July, which decreased 

nonfarm payroll employment by 50,000, monthly job gains have 

averaged 185,000 over the past 3 months. 

Employment in professional and business services increased 

by 53,000 in August. Over the year, the industry has added 

519,000 jobs.

In August, health care added 33,000 jobs. Job gains 

occurred in ambulatory health care services (+21,000) and 

hospitals (+8,000). Health care employment has grown by 301,000 

over the year. 
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Employment in wholesale trade rose by 22,000 over the month 

and by 99,000 over the year. Durable goods wholesalers added 

14,000 jobs over the month and accounted for about two-thirds of 

the over-the-year gain in wholesale trade. 

Transportation and warehousing added 20,000 jobs in August. 

Over the year, employment in transportation and warehousing has 

increased by 173,000, with about one-third of the gain occurring 

among couriers and messengers. 

Mining employment increased by 6,000 in August, after 

changing little in July. Since a recent low point in October 

2016, mining has added 104,000 jobs, almost entirely in support 

activities for mining.

Employment in construction continued to trend up in August 

(+23,000) and has increased by 297,000 over the year. 

In August, employment in manufacturing changed little 

(-3,000). Over the year, employment in manufacturing was up by 

254,000, with more than three-fourths of the gain in the durable 

goods component. 

Employment in other major industries--retail trade, 

information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and 

government--showed little change in August. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 10 cents in August to $27.16. Over the past 12 

months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.9 percent. 
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From July 2017 to July 2018, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.9 percent (on a 

seasonally adjusted basis). 

Turning to data from our survey of households, the 

unemployment rate remained at 3.9 percent in August, and the 

number of unemployed people, at 6.2 million, was little changed.

Among the unemployed in August, 1.3 million had been 

searching for work for 27 weeks or longer. These long-term 

unemployed accounted for 21.5 percent of the total unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate, at 62.7 percent, and 

the employment-population ratio, at 60.3 percent, both declined 

by 0.2 percentage point in August.

Among the employed, the number of people working part time 

for economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers, was little changed in August at 4.4 million but was 

down by 830,000 over the year. 

Among those neither working nor looking for work in August, 

1.4 million were considered marginally attached to the labor 

force, little different from a year earlier. Discouraged 

workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that 

no jobs were available for them, numbered 434,000 in August, 

also little different from a year earlier. (People who are 

marginally attached to the labor force had not looked for work 

in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, were 
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available for work, and had looked for a job within the last 12 

months.) 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 201,000 

in August, and the unemployment rate held at 3.9 percent.