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 

Keith Hall 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

before the 

Joint Economic Committee 

UNITED STATES CONGRESS 

Friday, November 4, 2011

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and 

unemployment data we released this morning. 

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October 

(+80,000), and the unemployment rate, at 9.0 percent, was little 

changed. Over the past 12 months, payroll employment has 

increased by an average of 125,000 per month. 

In October, private-sector employment increased by 104,000, 

with continued growth in professional and business services, 

leisure and hospitality, health care, and mining. Government 

employment continued to trend down. 
2 

Employment in professional and business services continued 

to trend up in October (+32,000). In recent months, there have 

been modest job gains in temporary help services and in 

management and technical consulting services. 

Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend up 

over the month (+22,000). Since a recent low in January 2010, 

the industry has added 344,000 jobs. 

Health care employment edged up by 12,000 in October, 

following a gain of 45,000 in September. The two-month average 

increase of 29,000 was in line with the industry’s recent trend. 

In October, offices of physicians gained 8,000 jobs. 

Mining employment continued to expand in October (+6,000). 

Since October 2009, mining has added 152,000 jobs, largely due 

to gains in support activities for mining. 

Construction employment was down by 20,000 in October, 

largely offsetting a gain in the prior month. Both over-themonth movements largely occurred in nonresidential construction 

industries. Employment in other major private-sector industries 

changed little in October. 

Employment in government continued to trend down (-24,000). 

State government, excluding education, lost 16,000 jobs over the 

month. Employment in both state government and local government 

has been falling since the second half of 2008. 
3 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 5 cents to $23.19 in October, following a gain 

of 6 cents in September. Over the past 12 months, average 

hourly earnings have risen by 1.8 percent. From September 2010 

to September 2011, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 

Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 3.9 percent. 

Turning now to measures from our survey of households, the 

unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 9.0 percent in 

October. The jobless rate has held in a narrow range from 9.0 

to 9.2 percent since April. In October, there were 13.9 million 

unemployed persons, little changed from the prior month. The 

number of persons jobless for 27 weeks and over declined by 

366,000 to 5.9 million, or 42.4 percent of total unemployment. 

The employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent, was 

little changed in October. Among the employed, those working 

part time for economic reasons fell by 374,000, to 8.9 million. 

The labor force participation rate, at 64.2 percent, was 

unchanged over the month. Thus far in 2011, the participation 

rate has held at about 64 percent. 

Among those outside of the labor force--persons neither 

working nor looking for work--the number of discouraged workers 

in October was 967,000, down from 1.2 million a year earlier. 
4 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend 

up in October (+80,000). The unemployment rate was little 

changed at 9.0 percent. 

My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your 

questions.