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 1, 2017

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in August, 

and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 percent. Job 

gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and 

technical services, health care, and mining. Employment growth 

has averaged 176,000 per month thus far this year, about in line 

with the average monthly gain of 187,000 in 2016. 

Before turning to the details of this month’s report, it is 

important to note that Hurricane Harvey had no discernable 

effect on the employment and unemployment data for August. 

Household survey data collection was completed before the storm.

Establishment survey data collection for this report was largely 

completed prior to the storm, and collection rates were within 

normal ranges nationally and for the affected areas. 

 In August, employment in manufacturing increased by 36,000. 

The industry has added 155,000 jobs since a recent low in 
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November 2016. Motor vehicles and parts (+14,000), fabricated 

metal products (+5,000), and computer and electronic products 

(+4,000) added jobs in August.

Construction employment rose by 28,000 in August, following 

little change over the previous 5 months. In August, employment 

edged up among residential specialty trade contractors 

(+12,000). 

Employment in professional and technical services continued 

to trend up in August (+22,000), in line with the average 

monthly gain over the prior 12 months. 

Employment in health care also continued to trend up in 

August (+20,000). Within the industry, hospital employment edged 

up (+6,000). Over the past year, health care has added 328,000 

jobs. 

In August, employment in mining rose by 7,000, with all of 

the job growth in support activities for mining. Mining has 

added 62,000 jobs since a recent employment low in October 2016.

Employment in food services and drinking places changed 

little in August (+9,000), following an increase of 53,000 in 

July. Over the year, employment in the industry has risen by 

283,000. 

Employment in other major industries--wholesale trade, 

retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, 
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financial activities, and government--showed little change over 

the month. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 3 cents to $26.39 in August. Over the past 

12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent. 

From July 2016 to July 2017, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.7 percent (on a 

seasonally adjusted basis). 

Major labor market indicators from the survey of households 

changed little in August. Both the number of unemployed people, 

at 7.1 million, and the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, 

changed little over the month. After declining earlier in the 

year, the unemployment rate has been either 4.3 or 4.4 percent 

since April.

In August, 1.7 million unemployed people had been searching

for work for 27 weeks or longer, accounting for 24.7 percent of 

the unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate, at 62.9 percent, was 

unchanged over the month and has shown no clear trend thus far 

this year. The employment-population ratio, at 60.1 percent in 

August, changed little over the month and has held fairly steady 

thus far this year. 
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In August, the number of people working part time for 

economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers, was about unchanged at 5.3 million. 

Among those neither working nor looking for work in August, 

1.5 million people were marginally attached to the labor force, 

little different from the prior year. Discouraged workers, a 

subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were 

available for them, numbered 448,000 in August, down by 128,000 

from a year earlier. (People who were marginally attached to the 

labor force had not looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the 

survey but wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked 

for a job within the last 12 months.) 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 

in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 

percent.