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 

Kathleen P. Utgoff 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, May 2, 2003 

The decline in the nation’s nonfarm payroll employment 

continued in April, although at a more moderate pace, and 

the unemployment rate rose to 6.0 percent. The modest 

decrease of 48,000 in payroll employment (-80,000 in the 

private sector) follows steep declines in February and 

March that totaled nearly half a million jobs. 

Manufacturing had its largest job loss in 15 months. 

Travel-related industries, such as air transportation, 

hotels and lodging places, and amusement and recreation 

services, also were weak in April. 

As measured by our survey of employers, factory 

payrolls lost 95,000 jobs in April, more than twice the 

average loss of the prior 12 months. Over-the-month 

declines were widespread, with notable losses in motor 

vehicles, fabricated metals, and electronic equipment. The 
2

factory workweek fell by 0.3 hour to 40.5 hours in April, 

and overtime edged down by a tenth of an hour to 3.9 hours. 

 Employment declines steepened in airline 

transportation, which shed 18,000 jobs in April. This 

industry has lost an average of 11,000 jobs per month since 

January. Passenger air travel has accounted for most of 

the decline. 

Services employment was little changed in April 

(+21,000), after losses totaling nearly 150,000 over the 

prior 2 months. Fewer workers than normal were hired in 

travel-related service industries in recent months, 

resulting in job losses on a seasonally adjusted basis in 

hotels and lodging places and amusement and recreation 

services. These two industries accounted for a total of 

125,000 jobs lost from January to April. Health services, 

which added 13,000 jobs in April, remains a source of 

growth, although the pace of that growth has fallen since 

late last year. Over the month, employment increased in 

agricultural services and engineering and management 

services. 

Employment was up in mining, which added 4,000 jobs 

over the month. Construction posted a small increase of 

18,000 jobs in April, with a gain in employment in general 

building contractors. Despite modest job growth among 
3

residential contractors since the recession began in March 

2001, construction employment overall has declined by 

225,000. 

Employment rose by 35,000 in local government in 

April. The increase was concentrated in education 

reversing a decline over the prior 2 months. 

Finance continued its positive employment trend. 

However, employment in mortgage banks and brokerages, which 

had exhibited strength throughout most of the past 2 years, 

was flat for the second month in a row. 

Retail trade employment was little changed in April, 

following 2 months of decline. Job losses in department 

stores, largely reflecting store closings, outpaced a gain 

in eating and drinking places. 

Average hourly earnings for production or 

nonsupervisory workers rose by 2 cents to $15.11 in April, 

following a 1-cent increase (as revised) in the prior 

month. Over the past year, average hourly earnings 

increased by 3.1 percent. 

Turning now to our survey of households, the 

unemployment rate rose in April to 6.0 percent. The 

jobless rate has ranged from 5.6 to 6.0 percent since 

November 2001. Over the month, the unemployment rate 
4

increased for adult men; rates for other major worker 

groups showed little or no change. 

The number of unemployed persons rose by 341,000 over 

the month to 8.8 million. About 1.9 million unemployed 

persons had been jobless for 27 weeks or more in April, and 

some 4.8 million employed persons were working part time 

even though they would have preferred a full-time schedule. 

 In April, the labor force increased by 680,000 persons 

as both employment and unemployment increased. The labor 

force participation rate rose by two-tenths of a percentage 

point to 66.4 percent. 

 

In summary, the April data reflect continued weakness 

in the labor market. Nonfarm payroll employment declines 

slowed somewhat after 2 months of heavy losses. Notable 

April employment declines occurred in manufacturing and 

travel-related industries. The unemployment rate rose to 

6.0 percent.