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, May 8, 2015

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 in April, after 

edging up in March (+85,000). The unemployment rate was 

essentially unchanged at 5.4 percent in April. Employment rose 

over the month in professional and business services, health 

care, and construction. Job losses continued in mining. 

Incorporating the revisions for February and March, which 

reduced nonfarm employment by 39,000, on net, monthly job gains 

have averaged 191,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months 

prior to April, employment growth averaged 257,000 per month. 

Professional and business services employment rose by 

62,000 in April. Over the prior 3 months, job gains averaged 

35,000 per month. Services to buildings and dwellings added 

16,000 jobs in April, after changing little in March. In April, 

employment continued to trend up in computer systems design and 

related services (+9,000), in business support services 
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(+7,000), and in management and technical consulting services 

(+6,000). 

Employment in health care increased by 45,000 in April and 

has grown by 390,000 over the past year. Job growth was 

widespread in the industry in April, with gains in ambulatory 

health care services (+25,000), in hospitals (+12,000), and in 

nursing and residential care facilities (+8,000). 

Construction employment rose by 45,000 in April, after 

changing little in the prior month. Employment in specialty 

trade contractors increased by 41,000 in April, with gains about 

evenly split between the residential and nonresidential 

components. Employment declined by 8,000 in nonresidential 

building construction. 

Manufacturing employment was essentially unchanged for the 

third month in a row. The industry had added an average of 

18,000 jobs per month from January 2014 to January 2015. 

Mining employment fell by 15,000 in April, with job losses 

in support activities for mining (-10,000) and in oil and gas 

extraction (-3,000). Employment in mining has fallen by 49,000 

thus far in 2015, more than offsetting the 41,000 jobs gained 

during 2014. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 3 cents in April to $24.87. Over the past 12 

months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent. From 
3 

March 2014 to March 2015, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 

Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged (on a seasonally adjusted 

basis). 

Turning now to data from our survey of households, both the 

unemployment rate, at 5.4 percent, and the number of unemployed 

persons, at 8.5 million, were essentially unchanged in April. 

These measures are down by 0.8 percentage point and 1.1 million, 

respectively, over the year. Among those unemployed in April, 

29.0 percent had been jobless for 27 weeks or longer. Both the 

number of long-term unemployed persons and their share of total 

unemployment have fallen over the year. 

The labor force participation rate was little changed at 

62.8 percent in April and has remained within a narrow range of 

62.7 percent to 62.9 percent since April 2014. The employmentpopulation ratio was 59.3 percent for the fourth month in a row. 

Among those employed in April, 6.6 million were at work 

part time for economic reasons, little changed over the month. 

These individuals, who would have preferred full-time 

employment, were working part time because their hours had been 

cut back or because they were unable to find full-time work. 

Among people who were neither working nor looking for work 

in April, 2.1 million were classified as marginally attached to 

the labor force, about unchanged over the year. These 

individuals had not looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the 
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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 756,000 in April, also 

about unchanged over the year. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 in 

April, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 

5.4 percent.