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Eastern Standard Time.
                              
                        Statement of
                              
                       Philip L. Rones
                     Acting Commissioner
                 Bureau of Labor Statistics
                              
                   Friday, January 5, 2007


     Payroll employment rose by 167,000 in December, and the
unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.5 percent.  In 2006,
payroll employment increased by 1.8 million, or an average
of 153,000 per month.  Over the month, there were job gains
in several service-providing industries.  Employment in
construction was about unchanged, and the number of
manufacturing jobs continued to trend down.  Average hourly
earnings increased by 8 cents, or 0.5 percent.

     Employment in professional and business services rose
by 50,000 in December.  Over the year, this industry has
added 420,000 jobs.  Over the month, there were job gains of
13,000 in businesses that supply services to buildings and
dwellings and 7,000 in management consulting services.
Employment continued to trend up in architectural and
engineering services and in computer systems design.  All
of these industries had significant over-the-year gains in
employment.  In contrast, temporary help services employment
was essentially unchanged over the year.

     Health care continued to add jobs, with a gain of
31,000 in December and 324,000 over the year.  Over the
month, employment grew by 14,000 in ambulatory health care
(which includes doctors' offices).  Employment also
increased in hospitals and in nursing and residential care
facilities.

     In December, employment in food services and drinking
places expanded by 23,000; job gains for 2006 totaled
304,000.  Within financial activities, employment continued
to trend up over the month in credit intermediation and in
insurance; over the year, these industries have added 62,000
and 46,000 jobs, respectively.  Transportation and
warehousing added jobs in December, with gains in air
transportation and in warehousing and storage.  Over the
year, transportation and warehousing employment increased by
106,000.

     Employment was up in the information sector in
December, largely due to an increase in its
telecommunications component.  Over the year, however,
employment in both the information sector and
telecommunications was essentially flat.  Retail trade
employment was little changed in December, following a large
increase in November.  Over the year, retail employment
edged down.

     Mining employment trended up in December.  Over the
year, employment in mining has grown by 54,000, or 9
percent, mainly in support activities.  Employment in
construction was about unchanged over the month, following
job losses in October and November that totaled 53,000.  For
all of 2006, construction employment was little changed,
following an increase of 295,000 in 2005.  In 2006, job
gains in nonresidential specialty trades and in heavy
construction were largely offset by a loss in residential
specialty trades.

     Manufacturing employment continued to trend down
(-12,000) in December; over the year, the industry lost
72,000 jobs.  Over the month, employment fell in motor
vehicles, primary metals, and textile mills.  The factory
workweek was unchanged at 41.0 hours, and overtime increased
by 0.1 hour to 4.3 hours.

     Average hourly earnings for private production and
nonsupervisory workers increased 8 cents in December to
$17.04, a gain of 0.5 percent.  Over the year, average
hourly earnings rose by 4.2 percent.

     Turning now to the survey of households, data users are
reminded that, with the release of December's data, we
update seasonal adjustment factors for the household survey.
Data going back 5 years--to January 2002--are subject to
revision.  All of the seasonally adjusted household data
released today incorporate the updated seasonal factors.

     In December, the unemployment rate held at 4.5 percent;
a year earlier the jobless rate was 4.9 percent.  The number
of unemployed persons was essentially unchanged in December
at 6.8 million, down from 7.3 million a year earlier.  The
civilian labor force edged up in December to 152.8 million.
The labor force participation rate, at 66.4 percent, has
trended up from 66.0 percent a year earlier.

     The employment-population ratio, at 63.4 percent, was
essentially unchanged in December, but was up 0.6 percentage
point from a year earlier.  The number of discouraged
workers fell over the year to 274,000 (not seasonally
adjusted).  Discouraged workers are those persons outside
the labor force who had stopped looking for work because
they believed their job search efforts would be
unsuccessful.

     In summary, nonfarm employment rose by 167,000 in
December, and by 1.8 million in 2006.  The unemployment rate
held at 4.5 percent in December, down from 4.9 percent a
year earlier.