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 

Erica L. Groshen 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, March 6, 2015

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 295,000 in 

February, and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.5 percent. 

Employment rose in food services and drinking places, 

professional and business services, construction, health care, 

and in transportation and warehousing. Mining employment fell 

over the month. 

Incorporating the revisions for December and January, which 

reduced nonfarm employment by 18,000 on net, monthly job gains 

have averaged 288,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months 

prior to February, employment growth averaged 266,000 per month. 

Food services and drinking places added 59,000 jobs in 

February, compared with an average monthly gain of 35,000 over 

the prior 12 months. 

Professional and business services employment increased by 

51,000 in February. Employment continued to trend up in 
2 

management and technical consulting services (+7,000), computer 

systems design and related services (+5,000), and architectural 

and engineering services (+5,000). Elsewhere in professional and 

business services, employment in temporary help services was 

little changed over the month. 

Construction employment rose by 29,000 in February, about 

in line with job gains in the industry over the prior 12 months. 

In February, employment rose by 27,000 in specialty trade 

contractors, including a gain of 17,000 in the residential 

component. 

Health care employment increased by 24,000 over the month, 

with job gains in ambulatory care services and in hospitals. 

Over the past 12 months, health care has added 356,000 jobs. 

Transportation and warehousing employment rose by 19,000 in 

February. This job gain occurred mostly in couriers and 

messengers (+12,000). 

In retail trade, employment continued to trend up over the 

month (+32,000). Over the past year, retailers have added 

319,000 jobs. 

Employment in manufacturing continued to trend up in 

February (+8,000). Within nondurable manufacturing, employment 

in petroleum and coal products fell by 6,000, largely due to a 

strike. 
3 

Employment in mining fell by 9,000 over the month, mostly 

in support activities for mining. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 3 cents in February to $24.78. Over the past 12 

months, average hourly earnings have risen by 48 cents, or 2.0 

percent. From January 2014 to January 2015, the Consumer Price 

Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) declined by 0.2 percent.

Turning now to our survey of households, both the 

unemployment rate, at 5.5 percent, and the number of unemployed 

persons, at 8.7 million, edged down in February. Both measures 

were down over the year, by 1.2 percentage points and 1.7 

million, respectively. 

In February, the number of unemployed persons who had been 

jobless for 27 weeks or more was little changed at 2.7 million. 

These individuals accounted for 31.1 percent of the total 

unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term 

unemployed is down by 1.1 million. 

The labor force participation rate was little changed at 

62.8 percent in February and has remained within a narrow range 

of 62.7 to 62.9 percent since April 2014. 

The employment-population ratio, at 59.3 percent, was 

unchanged in February. Over the year, the employment-population 

ratio is up by 0.5 percentage point. 
4 

In February, the number of people working part time for 

economic reasons was 6.6 million, little changed over the month. 

These individuals, who would have preferred full-time 

employment, were working part time because their hours had been 

cut back or because they were unable to find full-time work. 

 Among people who were neither working nor looking for work 

in February, 2.2 million were classified as marginally attached 

to the labor force, little changed over the year. These 

individuals had not looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the 

survey but wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked 

for a job within the last 12 months. The number of discouraged 

workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that 

no jobs were available for them, was 732,000 in February, also 

little changed over the year. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 295,000 

in February, and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.5 

percent.