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

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 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, October 8, 2004

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the September 

employment and unemployment statistics that we released 

this morning.

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in 

September, increasing by 96,000. The unemployment rate was 

unchanged at 5.4 percent. Since August 2003, payroll 

employment has increased by 1.8 million. About 900,000, or 

half of that gain, occurred in March, April, and May of 

this year. Employment gains in the last 4 months have 

totaled 405,000. 
2

I know that many people have speculated about the 

effect of the recent hurricanes on the September payroll 

employment data. Four hurricanes struck the U.S. during 

August and September: Charley in mid-August, Frances early 

in September, Ivan in mid-September, and Jeanne late in the 

month. This month, BLS and our State partners made extra 

efforts to obtain data from our survey respondents in the 

hurricane-affected states. As a result, our total response 

rate, even in the affected states, was as good as or better 

than it normally is for first publication. Still, our 

ability to gauge the impact on September’s job growth is 

limited for reasons that I will discuss in a moment. 

First, let me note how our payroll survey treats 

employment in businesses that are affected by weather 

events. For weather conditions to reduce the estimate of 

payroll employment, employees have to be off work for an 

entire pay period and not be paid for the time missed. 

BLS’ review of the sample data for September in the 

hurricane-affected areas indicates that there was a 

negative impact on employment in those areas. We will know 

more about the local effects when the official state 

estimates are available in 2 weeks. 

There were negative employment effects on those firms 

that were unable to operate or were operating at a reduced 
3

capacity during the survey period. However, other firms 

expanded their employment in response to the storms. There

were clean-up and rebuilding efforts following Hurricanes 

Charley and Frances. In addition, some firms adjacent to 

the hard-hit areas likely added workers to help accommodate 

evacuees from Hurricane Ivan.

Overall, we do not believe that the net result of 

these factors materially changes the national employment 

situation for September, but we cannot precisely quantify 

the weather effects.

In September, job gains occurred in a few 

service-providing industries. Employment in professional 

and technical services rose by 24,000. Since August 2003, 

this industry has added 205,000 jobs. Temporary help 

employment was up by 33,000 in September. Employment in 

real estate and rental and leasing services grew by 15,000, 

following an increase of 11,000 in August. Utilities added 

2,000 jobs over the month.

Within health care services, employment in doctors’ 

offices rose by 8,000 in September. Other health care 

industries, however, showed little or no employment growth 

over the month.
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Telecommunications employment fell by 9,000 in 

September. Since March 2001, the telecommunications 

industry has shed 302,000 jobs.

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing 

employment edged down in September, reflecting small but 

widespread declines among component industries. Employment 

was little changed over the month in both construction and 

mining. 

Average hourly earnings rose by 3 cents over the month 

and have increased by 2.4 percent over the year. Average 

hours for private production or nonsupervisory workers were 

unchanged in September. Manufacturing hours declined by 

one-tenth of an hour. Factory overtime was unchanged.

Turning now to measures from our survey of households, 

the unemployment rate held at 5.4 percent in September. 

This is down from its most recent high of 6.3 percent in 

June 2003; most of this decline occurred in the second half 

of last year. The labor force participation rate was 65.9 

percent in September; it has been at or near this level 

since late last year. Most other household survey measures 

showed little or no change over the month.

Before closing, I would like to mention the upcoming 

benchmark revision to the payroll survey. Each fall, we 

announce the preliminary estimate of the next benchmark 
5

revision to payroll employment. The benchmark revision is 

a standard annual procedure that adjusts the payroll 

survey’s sample-based employment estimates to incorporate 

universe employment counts derived largely from 

unemployment insurance tax reports.

Preliminary tabulations of first quarter 2004 

employment from state unemployment insurance tax reports 

indicate that the estimate of total nonfarm payroll 

employment will require an upward revision of approximately 

236,000, or two-tenths of one percent, for the March 2004 

reference month. This is slightly below the historical 

average for benchmark revisions over the past decade, which 

has been plus or minus three-tenths of one percent. 

 In summary, payroll employment continued to trend up 

in September, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 

5.4 percent.

 My colleagues and I now would be glad to address your 

questions.