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 W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, September 6, 2019

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 130,000 in August, and 

the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent. 

Employment in federal government rose, largely reflecting the 

hiring of temporary workers for the 2020 Census. Other notable 

job gains occurred in health care and financial activities, 

while employment declined in mining. 

Payroll employment growth has moderated this year. Monthly 

job growth has averaged 158,000 through August, compared with 

223,000 per month in 2018. (Incorporating revisions for June and 

July, which decreased employment by 20,000, monthly job gains 

have averaged 156,000 over the past 3 months.) 

In August, employment rose in federal government (+28,000), 

mainly due to the hiring of 25,000 temporary workers in 

preparation for the 2020 Census. 
 

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Health care added 24,000 jobs in August. Hospitals added 

9,000 jobs over the month, and employment continued to trend up 

in ambulatory health care services (+12,000). Health care has 

added 392,000 jobs over the year. 

Financial activities employment grew by 15,000 in August, 

following a large increase in July (+20,000). Within the 

industry, insurance carriers and related activities added 7,000 

jobs over the month. 

Employment in professional and business services continued 

to trend up in August (+37,000). Monthly job growth in the 

industry has averaged 34,000 thus far this year, below the 

average increase of 47,000 per month in 2018. Employment in 

computer systems design and related services rose by 10,000 in 

August, in line with recent growth. Management of companies and 

enterprises also added 10,000 jobs over the month. 

In August, employment in social assistance continued to 

trend up (+13,000). Over the past 6 months, social assistance 

has added 100,000 jobs, mostly in individual and family 

services. 

In August, mining employment declined by 6,000. Mining has 

lost 12,000 jobs since May, with losses concentrated in support 

activities for mining. 

Retail trade employment changed little in August (-11,000). 

General merchandise stores (which include department stores, 
 

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warehouse clubs, and supercenters) lost 15,000 jobs over the 

month and 80,000 jobs over the year. Building material and 

garden supply stores added 9,000 jobs over the month. 

Employment in manufacturing remained little changed in 

August (+3,000). So far in 2019, job growth in the industry has 

been markedly slower than in 2018. Employment growth in 

manufacturing has averaged 6,000 per month through August of 

this year, compared with 22,000 per month in 2018. The 

manufacturing workweek increased by 0.2 hour to 40.6 hours in 

August, after declining by 0.3 hour in July. 

Employment also showed little change over the month in 

construction, in transportation and warehousing, and in leisure 

and hospitality. Job growth in these industries has moderated 

thus far in 2019 compared with 2018. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 11 cents in August to $28.11, following 9-cent 

gains in both June and July. Over the past 12 months, average 

hourly earnings have risen by 3.2 percent; the over-the-year 

percent change has been 3.0 percent or above for 13 consecutive 

months. From July 2018 to July 2019, the Consumer Price Index 

for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.8 percent (on a 

seasonally adjusted basis). 

Turning to measures from the survey of households, the 

unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent in August, 
 

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and the number of unemployed people was essentially unchanged at 

6.0 million. The unemployment rate has been 4.0 percent or lower 

since March 2018. 

Among the unemployed, the number of people searching for 

work for 27 weeks or more, at 1.2 million, was little changed in 

August. These long-term unemployed accounted for 20.6 percent of 

the unemployed. 

Both the labor force participation rate, at 63.2 percent in 

August, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.9 percent, 

edged up by 0.2 percentage point over the month. 

Among the employed, the number of people working part time 

for economic reasons was 4.4 million in August, as an increase 

of 397,000 followed a similarly-sized decline the month before. 

These involuntary part-time workers accounted for 2.8 percent of 

the employed in August, the same as a year earlier. 

Among those neither working nor looking for work in August, 

1.6 million were considered marginally attached to the labor 

force, little changed 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.) Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally 

attached who believed no jobs were available for them, numbered 

467,000 in August, little changed from a year earlier. 
 

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In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 130,000 in 

August, and the unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent.