FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.D.T.

FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2004

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

before the

Joint Economic Committee

UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Friday, June 4, 2004

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the labor 

market data that we released this morning.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 248,000 in May, 

following even larger job gains in both April and March 

(346,000 and 353,000, respectively). Since August 2003, 

payroll employment has risen by 1.4 million. In May, job 

growth was widespread for the third consecutive month. 

Employment continued to expand in manufacturing, 

construction, and several service-providing industries. 
2

The unemployment rate held at 5.6 percent in May; it has 

shown essentially no movement since last December.

Among the goods-producing industries, employment in 

manufacturing rose by 32,000 in May and has increased by 

91,000 since January. The over-the-month gain was 

concentrated in the durable goods component (26,000), which 

has accounted for nearly all of the recent job growth in 

manufacturing. The factory workweek rose by four-tenths of 

an hour over the month, more than offsetting declines in 

the prior 2 months.

The upward trend in construction employment continued 

in May, as the industry added 37,000 jobs. Since March 

2003, the number of construction jobs has risen by 248,000. 

Employment growth in mining has picked up in recent months; 

the industry has added 18,000 jobs since January.

In the service-providing sector, employment in 

professional and business services increased by 64,000 in 

May, following an even larger gain in April. Nearly half 

of May’s growth in professional and business services 

occurred in temporary help (31,000). Employment in 

temporary help has risen by nearly 300,000 since its recent 

low in April 2003.
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Employment continued to increase in health care and 

social assistance (36,000). Job growth in this industry 

has accelerated in recent months. 

Employment growth in leisure and hospitality was 

strong for the third straight month. The industry added 

40,000 jobs in May, with food services and drinking places 

continuing to account for most of the gain (33,000). So 

far this year, employment increases in food services have 

averaged 32,000 per month. 

Elsewhere among the service-providing industries, the 

financial sector added 15,000 jobs in May, as employment in 

real estate and in credit intermediation continued to 

expand. In retail trade and wholesale trade, employment 

sustained its upward trend. 

One industry in which employment has continued to 

trend down is telecommunications. Over the month, 

employment declined by 5,000; since its peak in March 2001, 

the industry has shed 283,000 jobs.

In May, average hourly earnings for production or 

nonsupervisory workers rose by 5 cents, following a 4-cent 

increase in April. Over the year, average hourly earnings 

grew by 2.2 percent.

Looking at some of our measures obtained from the 

survey of households, the May unemployment rate was 
4

unchanged at 5.6 percent. After trending down during the 

second half of last year, the jobless rate has been either 

5.6 or 5.7 percent in each month since December. 

In May, 8.2 million persons were unemployed. The 

number of persons who had been jobless for 27 weeks or 

longer held at 1.8 million. The labor force participation 

rate was 65.9 percent for the fourth consecutive month. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 

248,000 in May, by 947,000 over the last 3 months, and by 

1.4 million since August. The unemployment rate was 

unchanged over the month, at 5.6 percent. 

My colleagues and I now would be glad to address your 

questions.