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 

before the 

Joint Economic Committee 

UNITED STATES CONGRESS 

Friday, February 5, 2010

Madam Chair and Members of the Committee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and 

unemployment data we released this morning. 

The unemployment rate declined from 10.0 to 9.7 percent in 

January. Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged 

(-20,000) and on net has shown little movement over the last 3 

months. In January, job losses continued in construction and in 

transportation and warehousing, while employment increased in 

temporary help services and retail trade. With revisions 

released today, job losses since the start of the recession in 

December 2007 totaled 8.4 million, substantially more than 

previously reported. 
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Construction employment fell by 75,000 in January, about in 

line with the average monthly job loss in 2009. Nonresidential 

specialty trade contracting accounted for the much of the overthe-month decline. The nonresidential components of 

construction have accounted for the majority of the industry's 

job loss since early 2009. Employment in transportation and 

warehousing decreased by 19,000 in January; the entire decline 

occurred in courier and messenger services, which laid off more 

workers than usual over the month. 

Employment in temporary help services grew by 52,000 over 

the month. This industry, which provides workers to other 

businesses, has added nearly a quarter of a million jobs since 

its recent low point last September. Following 2 months of 

little change, retail trade employment increased by 42,000 in 

January, with gains in several components. Health care 

employment continued to rise in January. Overall, manufacturing 

employment was little changed, although motor vehicles and parts 

added 23,000 jobs. Since June, the manufacturing workweek for 

all employees has increased by 1.2 hours. 

Federal government employment rose in January, partly due 

to hiring for the decennial census. Employment in state and 

local governments, excluding education, continued to trend down 

over the month. 
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Average hourly earnings of all employees in the private 

sector rose by 4 cents in January to $22.45. Over the past 12 

months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.0 percent. From 

December 2008 to December 2009, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.8 percent. 

Turning now to some measures from our household survey, 

both the number of unemployed persons (14.8 million) and the 

unemployment rate (9.7 percent) declined in January. However, 

the share of those jobless for 27 weeks and over continued to 

rise. 

The employment-population ratio increased to 58.4 percent 

over the month. The number of persons working part time who 

would have preferred full-time employment dropped from 9.2 to 

8.3 million, the lowest level in a year. 

Before closing, I would note that several changes were 

introduced today to the Employment Situation news release text 

and tables. Three new household survey tables provide 

information on the employment status of veterans, persons with a 

disability, and the foreign-born population. In January, the 

unemployment rate of veterans from Gulf War era II (September 

2001 to the present) was 12.6 percent, compared with 10.4 

percent for nonveterans. Persons with a disability had a higher 

jobless rate than persons with no disability--15.2 versus 10.4 

percent. In addition, 21.8 percent of persons with a disability 
4

were in the labor force, compared with 70.1 percent of persons 

without a disability. The unemployment rate for the foreign 

born was 11.8 percent, and the rate for the native born was 10.3 

percent. (The data in these new tables are not seasonally 

adjusted.) 

The establishment survey tables have been redesigned to 

include the addition of data on hours and earnings for all 

private-sector employees as well as employment information for 

women. Women currently make up 49.9 percent of total nonfarm 

payroll employment, compared with 48.8 percent when the 

recession began in December 2007. Additional information about 

the new and redesigned tables is available on the BLS Web site. 

I would also note that there were annual adjustments to 

data from our two surveys. The establishment survey data 

released today reflect the incorporation of annual benchmark 

revisions. Each year, we re-anchor our sample-based survey 

estimates to full universe counts of employment, primarily 

derived from administrative records of the unemployment 

insurance tax system. Accounting for revisions during the 

benchmark and post-benchmark periods, the previously published 

level of total nonfarm employment for December 2009 was revised 

downward by 1,363,000. Household survey data for January 

reflect updated population estimates from the U.S. Census 

Bureau. Further information about the impact of these 
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adjustments is contained in our news release and on our Web 

site. 

Returning now to the labor market data we released this 

morning, the jobless rate declined to 9.7 percent in January, 

and payroll employment was essentially unchanged. 

My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your 

questions.