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

Friday, January 9, 2009

The labor market continued to deteriorate in December.

Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 524,000. This brings 

job losses in 2008 to 2.6 million, 1.9 million of which occurred 

in the past 4 months. Employment dropped in nearly all major 

industry sectors over this 4-month period. In December, the 

unemployment rate rose from 6.8 percent to 7.2 percent, the 

highest rate since January 1993. 

Employment in manufacturing continued to fall over the 

month (-149,000), with job losses spread throughout the sector.

Manufacturing has lost 791,000 jobs since the start of the 

recession in December 2007 (as designated by the National Bureau 

of Economic Research). The largest declines over the month

occurred in fabricated metals (-28,000) and in motor vehicles

and parts (-21,000). Since the start of the recession, 

employment in motor vehicles and parts has fallen by 162,000, or
2

about 17 percent. Manufacturing hours and overtime declined in 

December by 0.4 hour and 0.3 hour, respectively. 

Construction employment dropped by 101,000 over the month, 

with declines dispersed throughout the sector. Since peaking in 

September 2006, employment has fallen by 899,000. 

In the service-providing sector, temporary help agencies 

lost 81,000 jobs in December and 490,000 over the past 12 

months. Employment in retail trade fell by 67,000 over the 

month. While job losses were widespread among retail 

industries, about a third of the decline occurred in automobile

dealerships. Employment in wholesale trade also contracted over 

the month (-30,000). 

The only major private industry sector that continued to 

add a significant number of jobs was health care. Employment in 

this industry rose by 32,000 over the month and by 372,000 over 

the past 12 months.

Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private sector rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent,

in December. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings 

have increased by 3.7 percent. From November 2007 to November 

2008, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and 

Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose by 0.6 percent.

The measures from the household survey also highlight the 

deterioration in labor market conditions. The unemployment rate 
3

rose by 0.4 percentage point in December to 7.2 percent, and the

number of unemployed persons increased by 632,000 to 11.1 

million. In 2008, the jobless rate rose by 2.3 percentage 

points, and the number of unemployed increased by 3.6 million. 

The rise in unemployment has been widespread across demographic

groups. 

The number of persons experiencing long spells of 

unemployment also has risen. About 2.6 million individuals had 

been unemployed for 27 weeks or more in December, an increase of 

384,000 over the month and nearly 1.3 million over the past 12 

months. 

The number of persons working part time who would have 

preferred full-time employment also continued to increase in 

December, rising to 8.0 million. Over the last 12 months, the 

number of such workers has grown by 3.4 million.

In addition to providing information on employment and 

unemployment, the household survey provides information about 

persons not in the labor force--that is, those who are not 

working or currently looking for work. Among this group, about 

1.9 million persons in December were classified as marginally 

attached to the labor force, up from 1.3 million a year earlier. 

These individuals wanted a job, were available for work, and had 

looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. The number of 

discouraged workers-–a subset of the marginally attached-–was
4

642,000 in December, up from 363,000 a year earlier. 

Discouraged workers are individuals who were not looking for a 

job because they believed no jobs were available for them. 

Data users are reminded that seasonal adjustment factors 

for the household survey are updated each year with the release 

of December's data. Seasonally adjusted estimates going back 5 

years--to January 2004--are subject to revision.

Summarizing labor market developments for December, nonfarm 

payroll employment declined by 524,000, bringing losses for the 

last 4 months to 1.9 million. The unemployment rate rose to 7.2

percent. 

Before concluding, I am pleased to announce that,

concurrent with next month's release of the Employment Situation

on February 6, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will begin 

publishing on its Web site monthly estimates of the labor force 

status of persons with disabilities. These new data series will 

provide timely information to analysts and policymakers into how 

changing labor market conditions affect this group. The 

collection of these data is sponsored by the Department of 

Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy.