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 

Erica L. Groshen 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, September 5, 2014

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 142,000 in August, and 

the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.1 percent. 

Employment rose in professional and business services and in 

health care. 

Incorporating the revisions for June and July, which 

reduced total nonfarm employment by 28,000 on net, monthly job 

gains have averaged 207,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 

months prior to August, employment growth averaged 212,000 per 

month. 

Professional and business services added 47,000 jobs in 

August. Within this industry, employment in management of 

companies and enterprises increased by 8,000 over the month. 

Employment continued to trend up in administrative and support 

services (+23,000), architectural and engineering services 

(+3,000), and in management and technical consulting services 
2 

(+3,000). Over the year, employment in professional and business 

services has expanded by 639,000. 

Health care employment grew by 34,000 in August with job 

gains in offices of physicians (+8,000) and in hospitals 

(+7,000). Over the past 12 months, employment in health care has 

risen by 233,000. 

Employment in food services and drinking places continued 

to trend up in August (+22,000) and is up by 289,000 over the 

year. 

Construction employment also continued on an upward trend 

in August (+20,000). This is in line with its average monthly 

job gain of 18,000 over the prior 12 months. 

Manufacturing employment was unchanged in August, following 

an increase of 28,000 in July. Employment in motor vehicles and 

parts manufacturing was down by 5,000 over the month after 

increasing by 13,000 in July. Firms in this industry laid off 

fewer workers than usual for factory retooling in July and 

recalled fewer workers than usual in August. This contributed to 

a seasonally adjusted increase in July and decrease in August. 

Employment growth in motor vehicles and parts manufacturing 

averaged 4,000 over the past 2 months, the same as its average 

monthly gain for the 12 months prior to July. 

Retail trade employment was little changed in August 

(-8,000). Within retail, employment declined in food and 
3 

beverage stores (-17,000); this industry was impacted by 

employment disruptions at a grocery store chain in New England. 

Elsewhere in retail, employment increased in auto dealerships 

(+5,000). 

Employment in other major industries showed little change 

over the month. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 6 cents to $24.53 in August. Over the 12 months 

ending in August, average hourly earnings grew by 2.1 percent. 

From July 2013 to July 2014, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.0 percent. 

Turning to measures from the survey of households, the 

unemployment rate was little changed in August, at 6.1 percent, 

but is down by 1.1 percentage points over the year. 

In August, there were 9.6 million unemployed persons, 

little different from July. The number of long-term unemployed 

(those unemployed 27 weeks or more) declined by 192,000 over the 

month. The total number of unemployed has fallen by 1.7 million 

over the year, with about three-fourths of this decline among 

the long-term unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, was 

little changed in August and has been essentially unchanged 

since April. 
4 

In August, the employment-population ratio was 59.0 percent 

for the third consecutive month. Over the year, however, the 

employment-population ratio is up by 0.4 percentage point. 

Among the employed, the number of people working part time 

for economic reasons was little changed at 7.3 million in 

August. (These individuals, also referred to as involuntary 

part-time workers, would have preferred full-time employment, 

but had their hours cut or were unable to find full-time work.) 

Among people who were neither working nor looking for work 

in August, 2.1 million were classified as marginally attached to 

the labor force, down by 201,000 over the year. (These 

individuals 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.) The number of discouraged 

workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that 

no jobs were available for them, was 775,000 in August, little 

changed over the year. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 142,000 in 

August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.1 

percent.