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 

William J. Wiatrowski 

Acting Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, April 07, 2017

The unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 

4.5 percent in March. Nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 

98,000, following gains in January (+216,000) and February 

(+219,000). In March, job gains occurred in professional and 

business services and in mining, while retail employment 

declined. 

Employment in professional and business services increased 

by 56,000 in March and has grown by 639,000 over the year. 

Within the industry, services to buildings and dwellings 

(+17,000) and architectural and engineering services (+7,000) 

added jobs over the month.

Mining added 11,000 jobs in March, mostly in support 

activities for mining. Employment in the industry has expanded 

by 35,000 since a recent low point in October 2016.
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In March, health care employment continued to trend up 

(+14,000). Over the month, hospitals (+9,000) and outpatient 

care centers (+6,000) added jobs. In the first 3 months of this

year, health care has added an average of 20,000 jobs per month, 

compared with an average monthly gain of 32,000 in 2016. 

Employment in financial activities also continued to trend 

up in March (+9,000). Over the year, employment in the industry 

has increased by 178,000, with much of the gain in credit 

intermediation and in real estate.

Construction employment changed little in March (+6,000),

following a gain of 59,000 in February. Employment in 

construction has been trending up since late last summer, 

largely among specialty trade contractors and in residential 

building. 

In March, retail trade employment declined by 30,000. 

Within the industry, employment in general merchandise stores 

fell by 35,000 over the month and has declined by 89,000 since 

last October. 

Employment in other major industries--manufacturing, 

wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, 

leisure and hospitality, and government--showed little or no 

change over the month. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 5 cents in March, following a gain of 7
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cents in February. Over the past 12 months, average hourly 

earnings have risen by 2.7 percent. From February 2016 to 

February 2017, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 

(CPI-U) increased by 2.8 percent (on a seasonally adjusted 

basis). 

Turning now to data from the survey of households, both the 

unemployment rate, at 4.5 percent, and the number of unemployed 

people, at 7.2 million, declined in March. The number of people 

searching for work for 27 weeks or more was little changed at 

1.7 million. These long-term unemployed accounted for 23.3 

percent of the total unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate remained at 63.0 percent

over the month, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.1 

percent, changed little. The employment-population ratio has 

edged up over the year, while the labor force participation rate 

has shown no clear trend. 

Among people employed in March, the number working part 

time for economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary parttime workers, was 5.6 million. This measure was little changed 

over the month but was down by 567,000 from a year earlier. 

In March, among those neither working nor looking for work, 

1.6 million were considered marginally attached to the labor 

force, little different from a year earlier. Discouraged 

workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that 
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no jobs were available for them, numbered 460,000 in March, down 

by 125,000 from a year earlier. (People who are marginally 

attached to the labor force 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.) 

In summary, the unemployment rate declined to 4.5 percent 

in March, and nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 98,000.