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, September 6, 2002 

Both the unemployment rate, at 5.7 percent, and 

nonfarm payroll employment, at 130.8 million, were little 

changed in August. Payroll employment has risen slightly 

since April, and the unemployment rate has shown no clear 

trend. 

The number of unemployed was 8.1 million in August, 

little different from the level in the prior month. Among 

the jobless in August, 2.8 million persons had been 

unemployed for 15 weeks or more. After steadily rising 

since May 2001, this measure has declined by 320,000 over 

the past 2 months. 

Turning to data from our establishment survey, payroll 

employment changed little in August (+39,000). Employment 

rose in services, government, and construction, but these 

gains were largely offset by losses in manufacturing and 
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retail trade. Employment in other major private-sector 

industries showed no substantial change in August. 

Employment in the services industry rose by 100,000 in 

August, compared to an average monthly gain of 62,000 in 

the prior 5 months. Over the month, employment in help 

supply services increased by 51,000; this follows a loss of 

30,000 in July. Despite July’s decline, employment in the 

industry has been on an upward trend since February, rising 

by 165,000. In health services, employment rose by 26,000 

in August, about in line with the average for the prior 12 

months. 

Government employment was up by 41,000. Job gains in 

Federal and local governments more than offset losses in 

State education. Employment in the Federal government rose 

by 20,000 in August, with the Transportation Security 

Administration accounting for most of the increase. 

In August, construction employment rose by 34,000, 

reversing a loss of 30,000 jobs in the prior month. The 

level of employment in the industry is essentially the same 

as in April. 

After 4 months of losses that averaged 18,000, the 

number of factory jobs fell more sharply in August, 

declining by 68,000. Job losses were widespread over the 

month. Within durable goods manufacturing, the largest 
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employment declines were in electrical equipment, 

industrial machinery, and fabricated metals. In nondurable 

goods manufacturing, the number of jobs in rubber and 

plastics decreased by 7,000, offsetting an identical gain 

in the prior month. 

Retail employment fell by 55,000 in August, following 

an increase of 33,000 in the prior month. Declines were 

concentrated in department stores. Since reaching a peak 

in June 2001, the number of jobs in retail trade has 

decreased by 295,000. 

Average weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory 

workers edged up by 0.1 hour over the month, following a 

decline of 0.3 hour in the prior month. In August, the 

manufacturing workweek and factory overtime were up by 0.1 

hour and 0.2 hour, respectively. Average hourly earnings 

of private production or nonsupervisory workers increased 

by 4 cents over the month. Over the year, average hourly 

earnings increased by 3.1 percent. 

To summarize, both the unemployment rate and the 

number of workers on nonfarm payrolls were little changed 

in August. Job growth accelerated in services, but 

manufacturing employment had its largest decline since the 

beginning of the year.