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 

Philip L. Rones 

Deputy Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

before the 

Joint Economic Committee 

UNITED STATES CONGRESS 

Friday, June 6, 2008

Madam Chair and Members of the Committee: 

 Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and 

unemployment data we released this morning. 

 The labor market continued to weaken in May. The 

unemployment rate increased by half a percentage point to 5.5 

percent, and jobless rates rose for most major demographic 

groups. Over the month, nonfarm payroll employment continued to 

trend down (-49,000). Thus far in 2008, job losses have totaled 

324,000. In May, employment declined in construction, 

manufacturing, retail trade, and temporary help services. 

Health care continued to add jobs. 

Within the goods-producing sector, employment in 

construction declined by 34,000. Job losses in the industry 
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continued to be widespread. Since its peak in September 2006, 

construction employment has fallen by 475,000; two-thirds of 

that decrease (-320,000), however, has occurred in just the past 

7 months. 

 Manufacturing employment also continued to decline in May 

(-26,000). Thus far this year, monthly job losses have averaged 

41,000, about twice the average monthly decline of 2007 and 

three times that of 2006. Over the month, job declines 

continued in two construction-related manufacturing industries--

wood products and nonmetallic mineral products. 

 Within the service-providing sector, retail trade 

employment declined by 27,000 in May. Since peaking in March 

2007, the industry has lost 184,000 jobs. Over the month, job 

declines continued in department stores. 

Temporary help services shed 30,000 jobs in May. Job 

losses have totaled 110,000 over the past 4 months and 193,000 

since the industry’s most recent employment peak in December 

2006. 

Health care employment expanded by 34,000 in May, with 

continued growth throughout the industry. Employment in food 

services continued to edge up over the month; since last fall, 

job growth has slowed markedly. 

 Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private sector rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, 
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in May and by 3.5 percent over the past 12 months. From April 

2007 to April 2008, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage 

Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose by 4.2 percent. 

Turning now to data from our survey of households, the 

jobless rate rose sharply in May to 5.5 percent. Unemployment 

rates increased for adult men, adult women, teens, whites, and 

blacks. The number of unemployed persons grew by 861,000 to 8.5 

million, with the increase disproportionately large among 16- to 

24-year olds. The over-the-month jump in unemployment reflected 

additional workers who had lost their jobs as well as an upsurge 

in new and returning jobseekers. 

In May, the number of newly-unemployed persons (those 

jobless less than 5 weeks) increased substantially (760,000), 

and the number of long-term unemployed continued to rise. The 

number of persons that had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more 

totaled 1.6 million in May, up from 1.1 million a year earlier. 

Over the month, the number of persons in the labor force 

increased by 577,000, primarily among youth, and the labor force 

participation rate edged up to 66.2 percent. In May, 62.6 

percent of the population was employed, down four-tenths of a 

percentage point from a year earlier. Since May of last year, 

the employment-population ratio for adult men has declined by a 

full percentage point to 71.9 percent, while the rate for adult 

women has been about unchanged at 58.1 percent. The number of 
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persons working part time who prefer full-time employment was 

essentially unchanged in May at 5.2 million but has increased by 

764,000 over the last 12 months. 

I would note that large over-the-month changes in the 

seasonally adjusted estimates from the household survey can 

occur between April and July. There is a substantial flow of 

workers, particularly young workers, into the labor force during 

these months. The interaction of several factors--including the 

underlying state of the economy, the timing of the survey 

reference week each month, and school schedules--can impact the 

month-to-month movement in our various labor market measures. 

While we always caution against reading too much into a single 

month’s data, that is particularly the case at this time of 

year. 

 To summarize May’s labor market developments, the jobless 

rate rose to 5.5 percent, the highest since October 2004, and 

nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down. 

 My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your 

questions.