Technical information:
   Household data:  (202) 691-6378   USDL 04-07
           http://www.bls.gov/cps/

   Establishment data:    691-6555   Transmission of material in this release is
           http://www.bls.gov/ces/   embargoed until 8:30 A.M. (EST),
Media contact:            691-5902   Friday, January 9, 2004.
                                        
                                        
                    THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION:  DECEMBER 2003
                                        


   Employment was virtually unchanged in December while the unemployment rate,
at 5.7 percent, continued to trend down, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the
U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Following increases that totaled
277,000 in the prior 4 months, nonfarm payroll was flat in December (+1,000).
   
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
   
   The number of unemployed persons was 8.4 million in December and the unem-
ployment rate was 5.7 percent.  Both measures continued to edge down from their 
recent highs in June 2003.  In December, the unemployment rates for adult men 
(5.3 percent) and Hispanics or Latinos (6.6 percent) declined.  The jobless
rates for the other major worker groups--adult women (5.1 percent), teenagers
(16.1 percent), whites (5.0 percent), and blacks (10.3 percent)--showed little
or no change from the previous month.  The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.3
percent in December, not seasonally adjusted.  (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
   
   The civilian labor force fell by 309,000 in December to 146.9 million; the
labor force participation rate decreased over the month to 66.0 percent.  Over
the year, the participation rate declined by 0.4 percentage point.  Both total
employment (138.5 million) and the employment-population ratio (62.2 percent)
were about unchanged in December.  (See table A-1.)
   
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
   
   In December, about 1.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor
force, about the same as a year earlier.  (Data are not seasonally adjusted.)
These individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job
sometime in the prior 12 months.  They were not counted as unemployed, how-
ever, because they did not actively search for work in the 4 weeks preceding the
survey.  There were 433,000 discouraged workers in December, also about the same
as in December 2002.  Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached,
were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 |    Seasonally adjusted household survey data have been revised us-  |
 | ing updated seasonal adjustment factors that incorporate 2003 data. |
 | Seasonally adjusted estimates back to January 1999 were subject to  |
 | revision.  The unemployment rates for January-December 2003, as     |
 | originally published and as revised, appear on page 5, along with   |
 | additional information on the revisions.                            |
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------

                                  - 2 -

Table A.  Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted
(Numbers in thousands)
______________________________________________________________________________
                         |    Quarterly    |                          |
                         |    averages     |        Monthly data      |
                         |_________________|__________________________| Nov.-
        Category         |       2003      |           2003           | Dec.
                         |_________________|__________________________| change
                         |   III  |   IV   |  Oct.  |  Nov.  |  Dec.  |
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______
     HOUSEHOLD DATA      |                Labor force status
                         |____________________________________________________
Civilian labor force.....| 146,628| 146,986| 146,892| 147,187| 146,878|   -309
  Employment.............| 137,647| 138,369| 138,095| 138,533| 138,479|    -54
  Unemployment...........|   8,981|   8,616|   8,797|   8,653|   8,398|   -255
Not in labor force.......|  74,885|  75,290|  75,147|  75,093|  75,631|    538
                         |________|________|________|________|________|_______
                         |                 Unemployment rates
                         |____________________________________________________
All workers..............|     6.1|     5.9|     6.0|     5.9|     5.7|   -0.2
  Adult men..............|     5.8|     5.5|     5.6|     5.6|     5.3|    -.3
  Adult women............|     5.2|     5.1|     5.2|     5.1|     5.1|     .0
  Teenagers..............|    17.5|    16.3|    17.1|    15.7|    16.1|     .4
  White..................|     5.4|     5.1|     5.1|     5.2|     5.0|    -.2
  Black or African       |        |        |        |        |        |
    American.............|    11.0|    10.7|    11.4|    10.4|    10.3|    -.1
  Hispanic or Latino     |        |        |        |        |        |
    ethnicity............|     7.8|     7.1|     7.3|     7.4|     6.6|    -.8
                         |________|________|________|________|________|_______
  ESTABLISHMENT DATA     |                     Employment
                         |____________________________________________________
Nonfarm employment.......| 129,902|p130,109| 130,080|p130,123|p130,124|     p1
  Goods-producing 1/.....|  21,987| p21,954|  21,966| p21,954| p21,942|   p-12
    Construction.........|   6,823|  p6,859|   6,845|  p6,859|  p6,873|    p14
    Manufacturing........|  14,599| p14,530|  14,556| p14,530| p14,504|   p-26
  Service-providing 1/...| 107,915|p108,155| 108,114|p108,169|p108,182|    p13
    Retail trade.........|  14,973| p14,965|  14,996| p14,969| p14,931|   p-38
    Professional and     |        |        |        |        |        |
      business services..|  16,075| p16,182|  16,142| p16,179| p16,224|    p45
    Education and health |        |        |        |        |        |
      services...........|  16,533| p16,651|  16,625| p16,653| p16,674|    p21
    Leisure and          |        |        |        |        |        |
      hospitality........|  12,053| p12,083|  12,071| p12,091| p12,087|    p-4
    Government...........|  21,461| p21,471|  21,473| p21,472| p21,468|    p-4
                         |________|________|________|________|________|_______
                         |                  Hours of work 2/
                         |____________________________________________________
Total private............|    33.7|   p33.8|    33.8|   p33.9|   p33.7|  p-0.2
  Manufacturing..........|    40.3|   p40.7|    40.6|   p40.8|   p40.7|   p-.1
    Overtime.............|     4.1|    p4.5|     4.3|    p4.5|    p4.6|    p.1
                         |________|________|________|________|________|_______
                         |  Indexes of aggregate weekly hours (2002=100) 2/
                         |____________________________________________________
Total private............|    98.6|   p99.1|    99.1|   p99.4|   p98.8|  p-0.6
                         |________|________|________|________|________|_______
                         |                    Earnings 2/
                         |____________________________________________________
Avg. hourly earnings,    |        |        |        |        |        |
  total private..........|  $15.44| p$15.48|  $15.46| p$15.47| p$15.50| p$0.03
Avg. weekly earnings,    |        |        |        |        |        |
  total private..........|  519.82| p523.11|  522.55| p524.43| p522.35| p-2.08
_________________________|________|________|________|________|________|_______

   1  Includes other industries, not shown separately.
   2  Data relate to private production or nonsupervisory workers.
   p=preliminary.
   NOTE:  Seasonally adjusted household data have been revised.  See note on
page 5.
   
                                  - 3 -

were available for them.  The other 1.1 million marginally attached had not
searched for work for other reasons such as school or family responsibilities.
(See table A-13.)
   
Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

   Total nonfarm payroll employment was unchanged (+1,000) in December, at 130.1
million, seasonally adjusted.  Employment continued to rise in the temporary
help, construction, and health care industries.  Retail trade and manufacturing
lost jobs over the month.  (See table B-1.)
   
   In December, employment in retail trade declined by 38,000.  Weak hiring 
for the holiday shopping period resulted in seasonally adjusted job losses in
general merchandise stores; miscellaneous store retailers; and sporting goods,
hobby, book, and music stores.  Employment in gasoline stations also decreased
over the month.
   
   Manufacturing employment was down by 26,000 in December.  From September to
December, employment in this industry declined at a slower pace than during the
first 8 months of 2003.  Employment in nondurable goods manufacturing decreased
by 18,000 in December, with the largest losses in printing and related support
activities (-4,000) and in textile mills (-3,000).  Manufacturing lost 516,000
jobs in 2003 and has shed 2.8 million jobs since July 2000, the last month it
recorded a gain.
   
   Within the financial activities industry, employment in credit intermedi-
ation declined for the third consecutive month, reflecting the reduced volume 
of mortgage refinancing.  From July 2000 through September 2003, the industry 
added 251,000 jobs, but since then employment has fallen by 39,000.
   
   Professional and business services added 45,000 jobs in December.  Over the
year, employment increases in this industry have totaled 252,000.  The majority
of this gain occurred in temporary help services, which added 166,000 jobs in
2003, including 30,000 in December.  Employment in education and health services
also continued to rise over the month.  Over the year, the industry added
301,000 jobs.
   
   Construction employment continued on a modest upward trend in December.  The
industry has added 173,000 jobs since February.
   
Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)
   
   The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private
nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.2 hour in December to 33.7 hours, seasonally
adjusted.  The manufacturing workweek declined by 0.1 hour to 40.7 hours, and
manufacturing overtime edged up by 0.1 hour to 4.6 hours.  (See table B-2.)
   
   The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers
on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.6 percent to 98.8 in December (2002=100).
The manufacturing index decreased by 0.4 percent over the month to 94.6.  (See
table B-5.)
   
                                  - 4 -

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)
   
   Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private
nonfarm payrolls increased by 3 cents over the month to $15.50, seasonally
adjusted.  Average weekly earnings fell by 0.4 percent in December to $522.35.
Over the year, average hourly earnings increased by 2.0 percent, and average
weekly earnings rose by 1.7 percent.  (See table B-3.)
   
                         ______________________________
   
   The Employment Situation for January 2004 is scheduled to be released on
Friday, February 6, at 8:30 A.M. (EST).


  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 |             Revisions in the Establishment Survey Data              |
 |                                                                     |
 |    With the release of January data on February 6, BLS will intro-  |
 | duce revisions in the establishment-based series on nonfarm payroll |
 | employment, hours, and earnings to reflect the annual benchmark ad- |
 | justments for March 2003 and updated seasonal adjustment factors.   |
 | Unadjusted data since April 2002 and seasonally adjusted data since |
 | January 1999 are subject to revision.  Previously, the revised data |
 | were published in June of each year; earlier receipt and tabulation |
 | of the benchmark source data now make it feasible to accelerate the |
 | publication date to February.                                       |
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 |            Planned Changes in the Household Survey Data             |
 |                                                                     |
 |   Effective with the release of data for January 2004, revisions    |
 | will be introduced into the population controls for the household   |
 | survey.  These changes reflect the routine annual updating of in-   |
 | tercensal population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.           |
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   
                                  - 5 -

              Revision of Seasonally Adjusted Household Survey Data
                                        
   At the end of each calendar year, BLS routinely updates the seasonal
adjustment factors for the labor force series derived from the Current
Population Survey (CPS), or household survey, to incorporate the data for 
that year.  This year, seasonally adjusted data for January 1999-December 
2003 were subject to revision.  (Seasonally adjusted establishment data will 
be revised next month, concurrent with the introduction of annual benchmark 
adjustments.)
   
   Table B summarizes the effects of the revisions on the overall unemployment
rate since January 2003.  The rate was revised in 3 months, in each case by 
+/-0.1 percentage point.  Revised seasonally adjusted data for major labor force
series since December 2002 appear in table C.
   
   Beginning with this release, BLS has converted to the use of concurrent
seasonal adjustment to produce seasonally adjusted labor force estimates from
the CPS.  Concurrent seasonal adjustment uses all available monthly estimates,
including those for the most current month, in developing seasonal factors.
This is a change from the previous practice of projecting seasonal factors for
the CPS data twice a year.  Due to this change in methodology, BLS will no
longer publish seasonal factors for the CPS estimates.  Historical seasonally
adjusted household survey data will continue to be revised only at the end of
each calendar year.  BLS introduced the use of concurrent seasonal adjustment
for the establishment survey data from the Current Employment Statistics program
in June 2003 with the release of data for May 2003.
   
   The January 2004 issue of Employment and Earnings will contain an article
describing the current seasonal adjustment methodology for the household survey
data and revised data for the most recent months or quarters for all regularly
published tables containing seasonally adjusted household survey data.  A copy
of the article is available at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrs2004.pdf on the
Internet.  Historical data for the household series contained in the "A" tables
of this release also can be accessed at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsatabs.htm on
the BLS Internet site.  Revised historical seasonally adjusted monthly and
quarterly data also are available on the Internet at
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/.

Table B.  Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates and changes 
due to revision, January-December 2003
---------------------------------------------------------------
                     |              |             |
   Month and year    |   As first   |      As     |   Change
                     |   published  |   revised   |
                     |              |             |
---------------------------------------------------------------
                     |              |             |
        2003         |              |             |
                     |              |             |
January..............|      5.7     |     5.8     |     0.1
February.............|      5.8     |     5.9     |      .1
March................|      5.8     |     5.8     |      .0
April................|      6.0     |     6.0     |      .0
May..................|      6.1     |     6.1     |      .0
June.................|      6.4     |     6.3     |     -.1
July.................|      6.2     |     6.2     |      .0
August...............|      6.1     |     6.1     |      .0
September............|      6.1     |     6.1     |      .0
October..............|      6.0     |     6.0     |      .0
November.............|      5.9     |     5.9     |      .0
December.............|   1/ 5.7     |     5.7     |      .0
---------------------------------------------------------------
  1/ Not published.

                                  - 6 -

HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                                         HOUSEHOLD DATA

Table C.  Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age, seasonally adjusted

(Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                             
                                 2002                                                2003                                                   
     Employment status,                                                                                                                                        
        sex, and age                                                                                                                                        
                                 Dec.    Jan.    Feb.    Mar.    Apr.     May    June    July    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec.  
                                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                             
            TOTAL                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                             
  Civilian noninstitutional                                                                                                                                  
     population(1)............  218,741 219,897 220,114 220,317 220,540 220,768 221,014 221,252 221,507 221,779 222,039 222,279 222,509
    Civilian labor force......  145,157 145,875 145,898 145,818 146,377 146,462 146,917 146,652 146,622 146,610 146,892 147,187 146,878
        Percent of population.     66.4    66.3    66.3    66.2    66.4    66.3    66.5    66.3    66.2    66.1    66.2    66.2    66.0
      Employed................  136,459 137,447 137,318 137,300 137,578 137,505 137,673 137,604 137,693 137,644 138,095 138,533 138,479
        Employment-population 
         ratio................     62.4    62.5    62.4    62.3    62.4    62.3    62.3    62.2    62.2    62.1    62.2    62.3    62.2
      Unemployed..............    8,698   8,428   8,581   8,519   8,799   8,957   9,245   9,048   8,929   8,966   8,797   8,653   8,398
        Unemployment rate.....      6.0     5.8     5.9     5.8     6.0     6.1     6.3     6.2     6.1     6.1     6.0     5.9     5.7
                                                                                                                                                 
    Men, 20 years and over                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                 
  Civilian noninstitutional                                                                                                                      
     population(1)............   97,139  97,635  97,762  97,869  97,979  98,083  98,196  98,304  98,434  98,568  98,696  98,814  98,927
    Civilian labor force......   73,725  74,014  74,241  74,209  74,510  74,523  74,675  74,660  74,682  74,905  74,942  75,188  75,044
        Percent of population.     75.9    75.8    75.9    75.8    76.0    76.0    76.0    75.9    75.9    76.0    75.9    76.1    75.9
      Employed................   69,569  69,940  70,174  70,213  70,290  70,182  70,190  70,269  70,324  70,596  70,726  70,964  71,099
        Employment-population 
         ratio................     71.6    71.6    71.8    71.7    71.7    71.6    71.5    71.5    71.4    71.6    71.7    71.8    71.9
      Unemployed..............    4,157   4,075   4,068   3,995   4,220   4,341   4,485   4,391   4,358   4,309   4,216   4,224   3,945
        Unemployment rate.....      5.6     5.5     5.5     5.4     5.7     5.8     6.0     5.9     5.8     5.8     5.6     5.6     5.3
                                                                                                                                                 
   Women, 20 years and over                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                 
  Civilian noninstitutional                                                                                                                      
     population(1)............  105,678 106,235 106,322 106,411 106,510 106,613 106,724 106,839 106,957 107,080 107,197 107,303 107,404
    Civilian labor force......   64,056  64,490  64,359  64,490  64,632  64,699  64,989  64,835  64,836  64,608  64,899  64,917  64,846
        Percent of population.     60.6    60.7    60.5    60.6    60.7    60.7    60.9    60.7    60.6    60.3    60.5    60.5    60.4
      Employed................   60,750  61,391  61,106  61,219  61,343  61,397  61,610  61,479  61,467  61,191  61,524  61,597  61,521
        Employment-population 
         ratio................     57.5    57.8    57.5    57.5    57.6    57.6    57.7    57.5    57.5    57.1    57.4    57.4    57.3
      Unemployed..............    3,306   3,100   3,253   3,271   3,289   3,302   3,379   3,356   3,369   3,417   3,375   3,320   3,326
        Unemployment rate.....      5.2     4.8     5.1     5.1     5.1     5.1     5.2     5.2     5.2     5.3     5.2     5.1     5.1
                                                                                                                                                 
  Both sexes, 16 to 19 years                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                 
  Civilian  noninstitutional                                                                                                                     
     population(1)............   15,925  16,027  16,030  16,038  16,051  16,072  16,095  16,109  16,116  16,131  16,145  16,162  16,178
    Civilian labor force......    7,376   7,371   7,298   7,120   7,235   7,240   7,254   7,157   7,104   7,097   7,051   7,082   6,987
        Percent of population.     46.3    46.0    45.5    44.4    45.1    45.0    45.1    44.4    44.1    44.0    43.7    43.8    43.2
      Employed................    6,141   6,117   6,039   5,868   5,945   5,926   5,873   5,856   5,902   5,857   5,846   5,972   5,859
        Employment-population 
         ratio................     38.6    38.2    37.7    36.6    37.0    36.9    36.5    36.4    36.6    36.3    36.2    37.0    36.2
      Unemployed..............    1,235   1,254   1,260   1,252   1,290   1,314   1,381   1,301   1,202   1,240   1,205   1,109   1,128
        Unemployment rate.....     16.7    17.0    17.3    17.6    17.8    18.1    19.0    18.2    16.9    17.5    17.1    15.7    16.1

    1 The population figures are not adjusted for seasonal variation.
    NOTE:  Data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.
 
 
 

                                  - 7 -

Explanatory Note


 This news release presents statistics from two major surveys, the Current
Population Survey (household survey) and the Current Employment Statistics
survey (establishment survey).  The household survey provides the
information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment that appears
in the A tables, marked HOUSEHOLD DATA.  It is a sample survey of about
60,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS).
 
 The establishment survey provides the information on the employment,
hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls that appears in the 
B tables, marked ESTABLISHMENT DATA.  This information is collected from
payroll records by BLS in cooperation with State agencies.  The sample 
includes about 160,000 businesses and government agencies covering ap-
proximately 400,000 individual worksites.  The active sample includes 
about one-third of all nonfarm payroll workers.  The sample is drawn 
from a sampling frame of unemployment insurance tax accounts.

 For both surveys, the data for a given month  relate to a particular week
or pay period.  In the household survey,  the reference week is generally
the calendar week that contains the 12th day of the month.  In the
establishment survey, the reference  period is the pay period including the
12th, which may or may not correspond directly to the calendar week.

Coverage, definitions, and differences between surveys
 
 Household survey.  The sample  is selected  to reflect the entire
civilian noninstitutional population.  Based on responses to a series of
questions on work and job search activities, each person  16 years and over
in a sample household is classified as employed, unemployed, or not in the
labor force.
 
 People are classified as employed if they did any work at all as paid
employees during the reference week; worked in their own business,
profession, or on their own farm; or worked without pay at least 15 hours
in a family business or farm.  People are also counted as employed if they
were  temporarily absent from their jobs because of illness, bad weather,
vacation, labor-management disputes, or personal reasons.
 
 People are classified as unemployed if they meet all of the following
criteria:  They had no employment during the  reference week; they were
available for work at that time; and they made specific efforts to find
employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference
week.  Persons laid off from  a job and expecting recall   need not be
looking for work to be counted as unemployed.  The unemployment data
derived from the household survey in no way depend upon the eligibility for
or receipt of unemployment insurance benefits.
 
 The civilian labor force  is the sum of  employed and  unemployed
persons.  Those not classified as employed or unemployed are not in the
labor force.  The unemployment rate is the number unemployed as a percent
of the  labor force.  The labor force participation rate is the labor force
as a percent of the population, and the employment-population ratio is the
employed as a percent of the population.
 
 Establishment survey.  The sample establishments are drawn from private
nonfarm businesses such as factories, offices, and stores, as well as
Federal, State, and local government entities.  Employees on nonfarm
payrolls are those who received pay for any part of the reference pay
period, including persons on paid leave.  Persons are counted in each job
they hold.  Hours and earnings data are for private businesses and relate
only to production workers in the goods-producing sector and nonsupervisory
workers in the service-providing sector.  Industries are classified on the
basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2002 version of the
North American Industry Classification System.

                                  - 8 -
 
 Differences in employment estimates.  The numerous conceptual and
methodological differences between the household and establishment surveys
result in important distinctions in the employment estimates derived from
the surveys.  Among these are:
 
 --The household survey includes agricultural workers, the self-employed,
unpaid family workers, and private household workers among the employed.
These groups are excluded from the establishment survey.

 --The household survey includes people on unpaid leave among the
employed. The establishment survey does not.
 
 --The household survey is limited to  workers 16 years of age and older.
The establishment survey is not limited by age.
 
 --The  household survey has no duplication of individuals, because
individuals  are counted only once, even if they hold more than one job. In
the establishment survey, employees working at more than one job  and thus
appearing on more than one payroll would be counted separately for each
appearance.
 
Seasonal adjustment
 
 Over the course of a year, the size of the nation's labor force and the
levels of employment and unemployment undergo sharp fluctuations due to
such seasonal events as changes in weather, reduced or expanded production,
harvests, major holidays, and the opening and closing of schools.  The
effect of such seasonal  variation can  be  very large; seasonal
fluctuations may account for as much as 95 percent of the month-to-month
changes in unemployment.
 
 Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern each
year, their influence on statistical trends can be eliminated by adjusting
the statistics from month to month.  These adjustments make nonseasonal
developments, such as declines in economic activity or increases in the
participation of women in the labor force, easier to spot.  For example,
the large number of youth entering the labor force each June is likely to
obscure any other changes that have taken place relative to May, making it
difficult to determine if the level of economic activity has risen or
declined.  However, because the effect of students finishing school in
previous years is known, the statistics for the current year can be
adjusted to allow for a comparable change.  Insofar as the seasonal
adjustment is made correctly, the adjusted figure provides a more useful
tool with which to analyze changes in economic activity.
 
   Most seasonally adjusted series are independently adjusted in both the 
household and establishment surveys.  However, the adjusted series for many 
major estimates, such as total payroll employment, employment in most super-
sectors, total employment, and unemployment are computed by aggregating in-
dependently adjusted component series.  For example, total unemployment is 
derived by summing the adjusted series for four major age-sex components; 
this differs from the unemployment estimate that would be obtained by di-
rectly adjusting the total or by combining the duration, reasons, or more 
detailed age categories.
 
                                  - 9 -

   For both the household and establishment surveys, a concurrent seasonal
adjustment methodology is used in which new seasonal factors are calculated 
each month, using all relevant data, up to and including the data for the 
current month.  In the household survey, new seasonal factors are used to ad-
just only the current month's data.  In the establishment survey, however, 
new seasonal factors are used each month to adjust the three most recent 
monthly estimates.  In both surveys, revisions to historical data are made 
once a year.

Reliability of the estimates
 
 Statistics based on the household and establishment surveys are subject
to both sampling and nonsampling error.  When a sample rather than the
entire population is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates
may differ from the "true" population values they represent.  The exact
difference, or sampling error, varies depending on the particular sample
selected, and this variability is measured by the standard error of the
estimate.  There is about a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that
an estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard
errors from the "true" population value because of sampling error.  BLS
analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level of confidence.
 
 For example, the confidence interval for the monthly change in total
employment from the household survey is on the order of plus or minus
290,000.  Suppose the estimate of total employment increases by 100,000
from one month to the next.  The 90-percent confidence interval on the
monthly change would range from -190,000 to 390,000 (100,000 +/- 290,000).
These figures do not mean that the sample results are off by these
magnitudes, but rather that there is about a 90-percent chance that the
"true" over-the-month change lies within this interval.  Since this range
includes values of less than zero, we could not say with confidence that
employment had, in fact, increased.  If, however, the reported employment
rise was half a million, then all of the values within the 90-percent
confidence interval would be greater than zero.  In this case, it is likely
(at least a 90-percent chance) that an employment rise had, in fact,
occurred.  At an unemployment rate of around 4 percent, the 90-percent con-
fidence interval for the monthly change in unemployment is about +/- 270,000, 
and for the monthly change in the unemployment rate it is about +/- .19 
percentage point.
 
 In general, estimates involving many individuals or establishments have
lower standard errors (relative to the size of the estimate) than estimates
which are based on a small number of observations.  The precision of
estimates is also improved when the data are cumulated over time such as
for quarterly and annual averages.  The seasonal adjustment process can
also improve the stability of the monthly estimates.
 
 The household and establishment surveys are also affected by nonsampling
error.  Nonsampling errors can occur for many reasons, including the
failure to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain
information for all respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness
of respondents to provide correct information on a timely basis, mistakes
made by respondents, and errors made in the collection or processing of the
data.
 
 For example, in the establishment survey, estimates for the most recent 
2 months are based on substantially incomplete returns; for this reason,
these estimates are labeled preliminary in the tables.  It is only after
two successive revisions to a monthly estimate, when nearly all sample
reports have been received, that the estimate is considered final.
 
                                  - 10 -

 Another major source of nonsampling error in the establishment survey is
the inability to capture, on a timely basis, employment generated by new
firms.  To correct for this systematic underestimation of employment growth, 
an estimation procedure with two components is used to account for business
births.  The first component uses business deaths to impute employment for
business births.  This is incorporated into the sample-based link relative
estimate procedure by simply not reflecting sample units going out of busi-
ness, but imputing to them the same trend as the other firms in the sample.  
The second component is an ARIMA time series model designed to estimate the 
residual net birth/death employment not accounted for by the imputation.  
The historical time series used to create and test the ARIMA model was de-
rived from the unemployment insurance universe micro-level database, and 
reflects the actual residual net of births and deaths over the past five 
years.
 
 The sample-based estimates from the establishment survey are adjusted
once a year (on a lagged basis) to universe counts of payroll employment
obtained from administrative records of the unemployment insurance program.
The difference between the March sample-based employment estimates and the
March universe counts is known as a benchmark revision, and serves as a
rough proxy for total survey error.  The new benchmarks also incorporate
changes in the classification of industries.  Over the past decade, the
benchmark revision for total nonfarm employment has averaged 0.3 percent,
ranging from zero to 0.7 percent.

Additional statistics and other information
 
 More comprehensive statistics are contained in Employment and Earnings,
published each month by BLS.  It is available for $27.00 per issue or
$53.00 per year from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC
20402.  All orders must be prepaid by sending a check or money order
payable to the Superintendent of Documents, or by charging to Mastercard 
or Visa.
 
   Employment and Earnings also provides measures of sampling error for
the household and establishment survey data published in this release.  
For unemployment and other labor force categories, these measures appear 
in tables 1-B through 1-D of its "Explanatory Notes."  For the establish-
ment survey data, the sampling error measures and the actual size of re-
visions due to benchmark adjustments appear in tables 2-B through 2-F of 
Employment and Earnings.

 Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request.  Voice phone:  202-691-5200; TDD message referral
phone:  1-800-877-8339.
 
 
 
 
  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                              HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-1.  Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age

  (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                     Not seasonally adjusted             Seasonally adjusted (1)            
                                                                                                                            
           Employment status, sex, and age                                                                                  
                                                                                                                            
                                                       Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                                       2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                        TOTAL                                                                                               
                                                                                                                            
  Civilian noninstitutional population.............. 218,741 222,279 222,509 218,741 221,507 221,779 222,039 222,279 222,509
    Civilian labor force............................ 144,807 146,969 146,501 145,157 146,622 146,610 146,892 147,187 146,878
          Participation rate........................    66.2    66.1    65.8    66.4    66.2    66.1    66.2    66.2    66.0
      Employed...................................... 136,599 138,700 138,556 136,459 137,693 137,644 138,095 138,533 138,479
          Employment-population ratio...............    62.4    62.4    62.3    62.4    62.2    62.1    62.2    62.3    62.2
      Unemployed....................................   8,209   8,269   7,945   8,698   8,929   8,966   8,797   8,653   8,398
          Unemployment rate.........................     5.7     5.6     5.4     6.0     6.1     6.1     6.0     5.9     5.7
    Not in labor force..............................  73,934  75,310  76,007  73,584  74,884  75,168  75,147  75,093  75,631
      Persons who currently want a job..............   4,227   4,201   4,355   4,566   4,826   4,816   4,885   4,572   4,714
                                                                                                                            
                Men, 16 years and over                                                                                      
                                                                                                                            
  Civilian noninstitutional population.............. 105,195 107,003 107,123 105,195 106,604 106,744 106,879 107,003 107,123
    Civilian labor force............................  77,197  78,579  78,413  77,447  78,251  78,504  78,530  78,799  78,661
          Participation rate........................    73.4    73.4    73.2    73.6    73.4    73.5    73.5    73.6    73.4
      Employed......................................  72,437  73,896  73,901  72,615  73,263  73,488  73,643  73,915  74,085
          Employment-population ratio...............    68.9    69.1    69.0    69.0    68.7    68.8    68.9    69.1    69.2
      Unemployed....................................   4,760   4,683   4,512   4,832   4,988   5,016   4,887   4,883   4,576
          Unemployment rate.........................     6.2     6.0     5.8     6.2     6.4     6.4     6.2     6.2     5.8
    Not in labor force..............................  27,998  28,424  28,710  27,749  28,353  28,240  28,348  28,204  28,462
                                                                                                                            
                Men, 20 years and over                                                                                      
                                                                                                                            
  Civilian noninstitutional population..............  97,139  98,814  98,927  97,139  98,434  98,568  98,696  98,814  98,927
    Civilian labor force............................  73,666  75,125  74,984  73,725  74,682  74,905  74,942  75,188  75,044
          Participation rate........................    75.8    76.0    75.8    75.9    75.9    76.0    75.9    76.1    75.9
      Employed......................................  69,503  71,067  71,024  69,569  70,324  70,596  70,726  70,964  71,099
          Employment-population ratio...............    71.6    71.9    71.8    71.6    71.4    71.6    71.7    71.8    71.9
      Unemployed....................................   4,163   4,058   3,960   4,157   4,358   4,309   4,216   4,224   3,945
          Unemployment rate.........................     5.7     5.4     5.3     5.6     5.8     5.8     5.6     5.6     5.3
    Not in labor force..............................  23,473  23,689  23,943  23,413  23,751  23,663  23,754  23,626  23,882
                                                                                                                            
               Women, 16 years and over                                                                                     
                                                                                                                            
  Civilian noninstitutional population.............. 113,546 115,276 115,386 113,546 114,903 115,035 115,160 115,276 115,386
    Civilian labor force............................  67,610  68,390  68,089  67,711  68,372  68,106  68,362  68,388  68,217
          Participation rate........................    59.5    59.3    59.0    59.6    59.5    59.2    59.4    59.3    59.1
      Employed......................................  64,162  64,804  64,656  63,844  64,431  64,155  64,452  64,618  64,394
          Employment-population ratio...............    56.5    56.2    56.0    56.2    56.1    55.8    56.0    56.1    55.8
      Unemployed....................................   3,448   3,586   3,433   3,866   3,941   3,951   3,910   3,770   3,823
          Unemployment rate.........................     5.1     5.2     5.0     5.7     5.8     5.8     5.7     5.5     5.6
    Not in labor force..............................  45,936  46,886  47,298  45,835  46,532  46,929  46,799  46,888  47,169
                                                                                                                            
               Women, 20 years and over                                                                                     
                                                                                                                            
  Civilian noninstitutional population.............. 105,678 107,303 107,404 105,678 106,957 107,080 107,197 107,303 107,404
    Civilian labor force............................  64,100  64,997  64,855  64,056  64,836  64,608  64,899  64,917  64,846
          Participation rate........................    60.7    60.6    60.4    60.6    60.6    60.3    60.5    60.5    60.4
      Employed......................................  61,103  61,853  61,823  60,750  61,467  61,191  61,524  61,597  61,521
          Employment-population ratio...............    57.8    57.6    57.6    57.5    57.5    57.1    57.4    57.4    57.3
      Unemployed....................................   2,997   3,144   3,031   3,306   3,369   3,417   3,375   3,320   3,326
          Unemployment rate.........................     4.7     4.8     4.7     5.2     5.2     5.3     5.2     5.1     5.1
    Not in labor force..............................  41,578  42,306  42,550  41,622  42,121  42,472  42,299  42,387  42,558
                                                                                                                            
              Both sexes, 16 to 19 years                                                                                    
                                                                                                                            
  Civilian noninstitutional population..............  15,925  16,162  16,178  15,925  16,116  16,131  16,145  16,162  16,178
    Civilian labor force............................   7,041   6,847   6,663   7,376   7,104   7,097   7,051   7,082   6,987
          Participation rate........................    44.2    42.4    41.2    46.3    44.1    44.0    43.7    43.8    43.2
      Employed......................................   5,992   5,780   5,709   6,141   5,902   5,857   5,846   5,972   5,859
          Employment-population ratio...............    37.6    35.8    35.3    38.6    36.6    36.3    36.2    37.0    36.2
      Unemployed....................................   1,049   1,066     954   1,235   1,202   1,240   1,205   1,109   1,128
          Unemployment rate.........................    14.9    15.6    14.3    16.7    16.9    17.5    17.1    15.7    16.1
    Not in labor force..............................   8,884   9,315   9,515   8,549   9,012   9,034   9,094   9,080   9,191

    1 The population figures are not adjusted for seasonal variation; therefore, identical numbers appear in the unadjusted
  and seasonally adjusted columns.
    NOTE:  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.  Seasonally
  adjusted data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.
 

  
 

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                              HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-2.  Employment status of the civilian population by race, sex, and age

  (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                     Not seasonally adjusted             Seasonally adjusted (1)            
                                                                                                                            
        Employment status, race, sex, and age                                                                               
                                                       Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                                       2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                      WHITE (2)                                                                                             
  Civilian noninstitutional population.............. 180,580 182,032 182,185 180,580 181,512 181,696 181,871 182,032 182,185
    Civilian labor force............................ 119,779 120,865 120,453 120,072 120,658 120,411 120,736 121,041 120,751
        Participation rate..........................    66.3    66.4    66.1    66.5    66.5    66.3    66.4    66.5    66.3
      Employed...................................... 113,916 114,935 114,702 113,876 114,156 114,015 114,535 114,783 114,678
        Employment-population ratio.................    63.1    63.1    63.0    63.1    62.9    62.8    63.0    63.1    62.9
      Unemployed....................................   5,864   5,930   5,751   6,195   6,502   6,397   6,200   6,258   6,073
        Unemployment rate...........................     4.9     4.9     4.8     5.2     5.4     5.3     5.1     5.2     5.0
    Not in labor force..............................  60,801  61,167  61,732  60,509  60,854  61,285  61,135  60,991  61,434
                                                                                                                            
                Men, 20 years and over                                                                                      
    Civilian labor force............................  62,007  62,873  62,656  62,095  62,543  62,552  62,694  62,913  62,752
        Participation rate..........................    76.2    76.5    76.1    76.3    76.3    76.2    76.3    76.5    76.2
      Employed......................................  58,914  59,885  59,680  59,016  59,233  59,414  59,623  59,777  59,794
        Employment-population ratio.................    72.4    72.8    72.5    72.5    72.3    72.4    72.6    72.7    72.6
      Unemployed....................................   3,093   2,988   2,975   3,079   3,310   3,139   3,072   3,136   2,957
        Unemployment rate...........................     5.0     4.8     4.7     5.0     5.3     5.0     4.9     5.0     4.7
                                                                                                                            
               Women, 20 years and over                                                                                     
    Civilian labor force............................  51,814  52,260  52,227  51,776  52,156  51,942  52,183  52,210  52,199
        Participation rate..........................    59.8    59.9    59.8    59.8    59.9    59.6    59.9    59.9    59.8
      Employed......................................  49,790  50,132  50,186  49,530  49,866  49,580  49,892  49,932  49,941
        Employment-population ratio.................    57.5    57.5    57.5    57.2    57.3    56.9    57.2    57.2    57.2
      Unemployed....................................   2,024   2,128   2,040   2,246   2,290   2,362   2,291   2,279   2,258
        Unemployment rate...........................     3.9     4.1     3.9     4.3     4.4     4.5     4.4     4.4     4.3
                                                                                                                            
              Both sexes, 16 to 19 years                                                                                    
    Civilian labor force............................   5,959   5,732   5,571   6,200   5,959   5,917   5,858   5,918   5,800
        Participation rate..........................    47.3    45.6    44.3    49.2    47.5    47.2    46.7    47.1    46.1
      Employed......................................   5,212   4,917   4,835   5,330   5,057   5,020   5,020   5,074   4,942
        Employment-population ratio.................    41.4    39.1    38.4    42.3    40.3    40.0    40.0    40.4    39.3
      Unemployed....................................     747     815     736     870     903     896     838     843     857
        Unemployment rate...........................    12.5    14.2    13.2    14.0    15.1    15.1    14.3    14.3    14.8
                                                                                                                            
            BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN (2)                                                                                   
  Civilian noninstitutional population..............  25,784  25,860  25,894  25,784  25,742  25,784  25,825  25,860  25,894
    Civilian labor force............................  16,736  16,602  16,422  16,701  16,585  16,677  16,589  16,524  16,365
        Participation rate..........................    64.9    64.2    63.4    64.8    64.4    64.7    64.2    63.9    63.2
      Employed......................................  14,951  14,931  14,828  14,799  14,771  14,826  14,696  14,812  14,679
        Employment-population ratio.................    58.0    57.7    57.3    57.4    57.4    57.5    56.9    57.3    56.7
      Unemployed....................................   1,785   1,671   1,594   1,902   1,813   1,851   1,893   1,712   1,686
        Unemployment rate...........................    10.7    10.1     9.7    11.4    10.9    11.1    11.4    10.4    10.3
    Not in labor force..............................   9,048   9,259   9,472   9,082   9,157   9,107   9,236   9,336   9,529
                                                                                                                            
                Men, 20 years and over                                                                                      
    Civilian labor force............................   7,338   7,455   7,422   7,300   7,362   7,433   7,385   7,414   7,382
        Participation rate..........................    71.3    72.0    71.6    70.9    71.5    72.0    71.4    71.6    71.2
      Employed......................................   6,550   6,723   6,718   6,529   6,585   6,619   6,611   6,668   6,695
        Employment-population ratio.................    63.6    64.9    64.8    63.4    63.9    64.1    63.9    64.4    64.6
      Unemployed....................................     788     731     704     771     776     814     774     746     687
        Unemployment rate...........................    10.7     9.8     9.5    10.6    10.5    11.0    10.5    10.1     9.3
                                                                                                                            
               Women, 20 years and over                                                                                     
    Civilian labor force............................   8,573   8,450   8,325   8,528   8,494   8,436   8,425   8,401   8,276
        Participation rate..........................    65.6    64.5    63.4    65.3    65.1    64.5    64.4    64.1    63.1
      Employed......................................   7,826   7,701   7,595   7,698   7,674   7,664   7,596   7,639   7,471
        Employment-population ratio.................    59.9    58.8    57.9    58.9    58.8    58.6    58.0    58.3    56.9
      Unemployed....................................     747     749     730     831     820     772     829     762     805
        Unemployment rate...........................     8.7     8.9     8.8     9.7     9.7     9.2     9.8     9.1     9.7
                                                                                                                            
              Both sexes, 16 to 19 years                                                                                    
    Civilian labor force............................     826     697     675     873     729     808     779     710     707
        Participation rate..........................    34.0    29.1    28.1    36.0    30.5    33.8    32.5    29.6    29.4
      Employed......................................     575     507     514     572     512     543     489     505     514
        Employment-population ratio.................    23.7    21.1    21.4    23.6    21.4    22.7    20.4    21.0    21.4
      Unemployed....................................     250     190     161     301     217     264     290     205     193
        Unemployment rate...........................    30.3    27.2    23.8    34.4    29.8    32.7    37.3    28.9    27.3
                                                                                                                            
                      ASIAN (2)                                                                                             
  Civilian noninstutional population................   9,980   9,354   9,372   (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)  
    Civilian labor force............................   6,720   6,109   6,272   (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)  
        Participation rate..........................    67.3    65.3    66.9   (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)  
      Employed......................................   6,322   5,789   5,938   (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)  
        Employment-population ratio.................    63.3    61.9    63.4   (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)  
      Unemployed....................................     398     320     334   (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)  
        Unemployment rate...........................     5.9     5.2     5.3   (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)  
    Not in labor force..............................   3,260   3,245   3,101   (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)     (3)  

    1 The population figures are not adjusted for seasonal variation; therefore, identical numbers appear in the unadjusted
  and seasonally adjusted columns.
    2 Beginning in 2003, persons who selected this race group only; persons who selected more than one race group are not
  included.  Prior to 2003, persons who reported more than one race were included in the group they identified as the main
  race.
    3 Data not available.
    NOTE:  Estimates for the above race groups will not sum to totals shown in table A-1 because data are not presented for
  all races.  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.  Seasonally
  adjusted data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.

 
 
 

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                              HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-3.  Employment status of the Hispanic or Latino population by sex and age

  (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                     Not seasonally adjusted             Seasonally adjusted (1)            
                                                                                                                            
           Employment status, sex, and age                                                                                  
                                                       Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                                       2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
             HISPANIC OR LATINO ETHNICITY                                                                                   
  Civilian noninstitutional population..............  26,436  28,016  28,116  26,436  27,701  27,808  27,913  28,016  28,116
    Civilian labor force............................  18,148  19,057  19,031  18,150  18,843  18,877  18,940  19,125  19,035
        Participation rate..........................    68.6    68.0    67.7    68.7    68.0    67.9    67.9    68.3    67.7
      Employed......................................  16,713  17,666  17,785  16,704  17,383  17,456  17,556  17,709  17,784
        Employment-population ratio.................    63.2    63.1    63.3    63.2    62.8    62.8    62.9    63.2    63.3
      Unemployed....................................   1,435   1,391   1,246   1,446   1,460   1,421   1,383   1,416   1,250
        Unemployment rate...........................     7.9     7.3     6.5     8.0     7.8     7.5     7.3     7.4     6.6
    Not in labor force..............................   8,288   8,959   9,085   8,286   8,858   8,931   8,974   8,891   9,082
                                                                                                                            
                Men, 20 years and over                                                                                      
    Civilian labor force............................  10,170  10,920  11,015   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Participation rate..........................    83.5    83.8    84.2   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
      Employed......................................   9,422  10,225  10,381   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Employment-population ratio.................    77.4    78.5    79.3   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
      Unemployed....................................     747     695     634   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Unemployment rate...........................     7.3     6.4     5.8   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
                                                                                                                            
               Women, 20 years and over                                                                                     
    Civilian labor force............................   6,938   7,163   7,126   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Participation rate..........................    59.1    57.7    57.2   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
      Employed......................................   6,437   6,643   6,666   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Employment-population ratio.................    54.8    53.5    53.5   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
      Unemployed....................................     501     521     459   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Unemployment rate...........................     7.2     7.3     6.4   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
                                                                                                                            
              Both sexes, 16 to 19 years                                                                                    
    Civilian labor force............................   1,040     973     890   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Participation rate..........................    41.5    37.9    34.6   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
      Employed......................................     853     798     738   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Employment-population ratio.................    34.0    31.1    28.7   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
      Unemployed....................................     187     175     152   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  
        Unemployment rate...........................    18.0    18.0    17.1   (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)     (2)  

    1 The population figures are not adjusted for seasonal variation; therefore, identical numbers appear in the unadjusted
  and seasonally adjusted columns.
    2 Data not available.
    NOTE:  Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.  Beginning in January 2003, data
  reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.  Seasonally adjusted data have been revised to reflect
  updated seasonal adjustment factors.
 


  
  
  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                               HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-4.  Employment status of the civilian population 25 years and over by educational attainment

  (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                             
                                               Not seasonally adjusted                   Seasonally adjusted                 
                                                                                                                             
            Educational attainment                                                                                           
                                                Dec.     Nov.     Dec.     Dec.     Aug.     Sept.    Oct.     Nov.     Dec.  
                                                2002     2003     2003     2002     2003     2003     2003     2003     2003  
                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                             
       Less than a high school diploma                                                                                       
  Civilian labor force......................   12,546   12,679   12,640   12,621   12,618   12,577   12,672   12,764   12,712
      Participation rate....................     44.4     45.3     44.6     44.6     45.5     44.8     45.7     45.6     44.9
    Employed................................   11,326   11,586   11,554   11,461   11,449   11,478   11,551   11,677   11,678
      Employment-population ratio...........     40.1     41.4     40.8     40.5     41.3     40.9     41.6     41.7     41.2
    Unemployed..............................    1,220    1,093    1,086    1,160    1,169    1,099    1,121    1,087    1,034
      Unemployment rate.....................      9.7      8.6      8.6      9.2      9.3      8.7      8.8      8.5      8.1
                                                                                                                             
    High school graduates, no college (1)                                                                                    
  Civilian labor force......................   38,064   38,514   38,170   37,825   37,916   37,967   37,887   38,241   37,958
      Participation rate....................     64.0     64.0     63.8     63.6     63.8     63.6     63.6     63.6     63.5
    Employed................................   36,085   36,543   36,131   35,800   35,872   35,932   35,807   36,179   35,868
      Employment-population ratio...........     60.7     60.8     60.4     60.2     60.4     60.2     60.1     60.2     60.0
    Unemployed..............................    1,979    1,971    2,039    2,025    2,044    2,036    2,080    2,061    2,090
      Unemployment rate.....................      5.2      5.1      5.3      5.4      5.4      5.4      5.5      5.4      5.5
                                                                                                                             
       Some college or associate degree                                                                                      
  Civilian labor force......................   34,028   33,690   34,101   33,875   33,979   33,983   33,841   33,727   33,932
      Participation rate....................     72.8     72.3     72.6     72.5     72.7     72.8     72.4     72.4     72.2
    Employed................................   32,439   32,168   32,658   32,185   32,365   32,357   32,222   32,114   32,400
      Employment-population ratio...........     69.4     69.0     69.5     68.9     69.2     69.4     68.9     68.9     69.0
    Unemployed..............................    1,588    1,522    1,443    1,689    1,613    1,626    1,619    1,613    1,532
      Unemployment rate.....................      4.7      4.5      4.2      5.0      4.7      4.8      4.8      4.8      4.5
                                                                                                                             
       Bachelor's degree and higher (2)                                                                                      
  Civilian labor force......................   38,401   40,402   40,206   38,665   39,997   39,825   40,504   40,536   40,515
      Participation rate....................     78.7     78.5     78.4     79.3     77.5     77.6     78.0     78.7     79.0
    Employed................................   37,354   39,240   39,078   37,530   38,752   38,559   39,267   39,292   39,291
      Employment-population ratio...........     76.6     76.2     76.2     76.9     75.1     75.1     75.6     76.3     76.6
    Unemployed..............................    1,047    1,162    1,128    1,135    1,245    1,265    1,237    1,244    1,224
      Unemployment rate.....................      2.7      2.9      2.8      2.9      3.1      3.2      3.1      3.1      3.0

    1 Includes high school diploma or equivalent.
    2 Includes persons with bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees. 
    NOTE:  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.  Seasonally
  adjusted data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.
 


  

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                     HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-5.  Employed persons by class of worker and part-time status

  (In thousands)
                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                   
                                            Not seasonally adjusted               Seasonally adjusted              
                                                                                                                   
                  Category                                                                                         
                                                                                                                   
                                              Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                              2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                   
               CLASS OF WORKER                                                                                     
                                                                                                                   
  Agriculture and related industries.......   2,144   2,299   2,053   2,345   2,327   2,341   2,410   2,418   2,245
    Wage and salary workers................   1,141   1,347   1,168   1,257   1,410   1,437   1,465   1,440   1,294
    Self-employed workers..................     976     937     870   1,039     942     886     938     953     919
    Unpaid family workers..................      28      15      15   (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)  
                                                                                                                   
  Nonagricultural industries............... 134,454 136,401 136,503 134,098 135,282 135,401 135,722 136,172 136,180
    Wage and salary workers................ 125,206 126,654 126,984 124,842 125,746 125,860 126,183 126,466 126,661
      Government...........................  19,660  19,702  19,821  19,531  19,662  19,725  19,797  19,609  19,694
      Private industries................... 105,546 106,952 107,163 105,460 106,047 106,136 106,400 106,876 107,110
        Private households.................     729     775     780   (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)  
        Other industries................... 104,817 106,177 106,383 104,783 105,184 105,351 105,662 106,129 106,382
    Self-employed workers..................   9,170   9,665   9,412   9,245   9,526   9,401   9,460   9,541   9,477
    Unpaid family workers..................      78      82     107   (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)  
                                                                                                                   
        PERSONS AT WORK PART TIME (2)                                                                              
                                                                                                                   
  All industries:                                                                                                  
    Part time for economic reasons.........   4,385   4,682   4,833   4,330   4,498   4,896   4,800   4,880   4,788
      Slack work or business conditions....   3,023   3,132   3,327   2,912   3,063   3,185   3,030   3,226   3,205
      Could only find part-time work.......   1,084   1,330   1,182   1,178   1,201   1,334   1,356   1,350   1,295
    Part time for noneconomic reasons......  19,704  20,271  19,543  18,668  19,482  19,021  18,935  19,110  18,561
                                                                                                                   
  Nonagricultural industries:                                                                                      
    Part time for economic reasons.........   4,278   4,575   4,717   4,281   4,404   4,794   4,690   4,782   4,727
      Slack work or business conditions....   2,961   3,037   3,248   2,870   2,989   3,127   2,964   3,153   3,144
      Could only find part-time work.......   1,069   1,328   1,178   1,154   1,191   1,335   1,349   1,353   1,279
    Part time for noneconomic reasons......  19,332  19,911  19,246  18,353  19,016  18,633  18,628  18,752  18,367

    1 Data not available.
    2 Persons at work excludes employed persons who were absent from their jobs during the entire reference week
  for reasons such as vacation, illness, or industrial dispute.  Part time for noneconomic reasons excludes persons
  who usually work full time but worked only 1 to 34 hours during the reference week for reasons such as holidays,
  illness, and bad weather.
    NOTE:  Detail for the seasonally adjusted data shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because
  of the independent seasonal adjustment of the various series.  Industries reflect the introduction of the 2002
  Census industry classification system derived from the 2002 North American Industry Classification System into
  the Current Population Survey.  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the
  household survey.  Seasonally adjusted data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.



 
 

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                              HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-6.  Selected employment indicators

  (In thousands)
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                     Not seasonally adjusted               Seasonally adjusted              
                                                                                                                            
                    Characteristic                                                                                          
                                                                                                                            
                                                       Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                                       2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
  Total, 16 years and over.......................... 136,599 138,700 138,556 136,459 137,693 137,644 138,095 138,533 138,479
    16 to 19 years..................................   5,992   5,780   5,709   6,141   5,902   5,857   5,846   5,972   5,859
      16 to 17 years................................   2,164   2,294   2,175   2,276   2,346   2,253   2,227   2,361   2,292
      18 to 19 years................................   3,828   3,486   3,534   3,860   3,580   3,593   3,607   3,592   3,562
    20 years and over............................... 130,606 132,920 132,847 130,318 131,791 131,787 132,250 132,561 132,620
      20 to 24 years................................  13,402  13,382  13,426  13,388  13,398  13,396  13,437  13,371  13,413
      25 years and over............................. 117,205 119,538 119,421 116,932 118,483 118,437 118,785 119,106 119,168
        25 to 54 years..............................  96,767  97,740  97,613  96,563  97,212  97,150  97,233  97,422  97,436
          25 to 34 years............................  30,236  30,571  30,384  30,177  30,318  30,288  30,296  30,389  30,340
          35 to 44 years............................  34,993  34,970  34,861  34,952  34,839  34,880  34,829  34,909  34,819
          45 to 54 years............................  31,538  32,199  32,368  31,434  32,055  31,982  32,107  32,125  32,277
        55 years and over...........................  20,437  21,798  21,808  20,369  21,271  21,287  21,552  21,683  21,732
                                                                                                                            
  Men, 16 years and over............................  72,437  73,896  73,901  72,615  73,263  73,488  73,643  73,915  74,085
    16 to 19 years..................................   2,933   2,829   2,877   3,046   2,939   2,893   2,917   2,951   2,986
      16 to 17 years................................   1,017   1,111   1,072   1,094   1,147   1,071   1,101   1,189   1,153
      18 to 19 years................................   1,916   1,718   1,805   1,930   1,813   1,802   1,796   1,779   1,817
    20 years and over...............................  69,503  71,067  71,024  69,569  70,324  70,596  70,726  70,964  71,099
      20 to 24 years................................   6,987   7,040   6,993   7,041   6,973   7,020   7,038   7,050   7,048
      25 years and over.............................  62,516  64,027  64,031  62,542  63,372  63,512  63,670  63,876  64,061
        25 to 54 years..............................  51,524  52,392  52,386  51,570  52,016  52,137  52,168  52,293  52,441
          25 to 34 years............................  16,465  16,839  16,748  16,453  16,623  16,657  16,660  16,747  16,740
          35 to 44 years............................  18,708  18,861  18,825  18,742  18,761  18,866  18,828  18,844  18,857
          45 to 54 years............................  16,351  16,693  16,813  16,376  16,632  16,614  16,681  16,702  16,843
        55 years and over...........................  10,993  11,634  11,645  10,972  11,357  11,375  11,501  11,583  11,620
                                                                                                                            
  Women, 16 years and over..........................  64,162  64,804  64,656  63,844  64,431  64,155  64,452  64,618  64,394
    16 to 19 years..................................   3,059   2,951   2,833   3,094   2,963   2,964   2,928   3,021   2,873
      16 to 17 years................................   1,148   1,183   1,103   1,182   1,199   1,183   1,126   1,172   1,139
      18 to 19 years................................   1,912   1,768   1,729   1,930   1,767   1,791   1,812   1,813   1,745
    20 years and over...............................  61,103  61,853  61,823  60,750  61,467  61,191  61,524  61,597  61,521
      20 to 24 years................................   6,415   6,342   6,434   6,347   6,425   6,376   6,398   6,321   6,365
      25 years and over.............................  54,688  55,511  55,390  54,390  55,111  54,925  55,116  55,230  55,107
        25 to 54 years..............................  45,244  45,347  45,227  44,993  45,197  45,013  45,065  45,130  44,996
          25 to 34 years............................  13,771  13,732  13,636  13,724  13,695  13,631  13,637  13,642  13,599
          35 to 44 years............................  16,285  16,109  16,036  16,210  16,078  16,015  16,001  16,065  15,962
          45 to 54 years............................  15,187  15,506  15,554  15,059  15,424  15,367  15,427  15,423  15,434
        55 years and over...........................   9,444  10,164  10,163   9,397   9,914   9,912  10,051  10,100  10,112
                                                                                                                            
  Married men, spouse present.......................  44,070  45,193  45,562  43,927  44,659  44,566  44,684  45,152  45,431
  Married women, spouse present.....................  34,432  35,233  35,217  34,227  34,684  34,612  34,993  35,076  35,034
  Women who maintain families.......................   8,644   8,595   8,501   (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)  
                                                                                                                            
  Full-time workers (2)............................. 112,108 113,522 113,942 112,757 113,121 113,321 113,677 114,024 114,597
  Part-time workers (3).............................  24,491  25,178  24,614  23,874  24,853  24,446  24,460  24,569  24,023

    1 Data not available.
    2 Employed full-time workers are persons who usually work 35 hours or more per week.
    3 Employed part-time workers are persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week.
    NOTE:  Detail for the seasonally adjusted data shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because of the
  independent seasonal adjustment of the various series.  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population
  controls used in the household survey.  Seasonally adjusted data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment
  factors.
 
 
  
 

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                              HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-7.  Selected unemployment indicators, seasonally adjusted
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                            Number of                                                       
                                                        unemployed persons                Unemployment rates (1)            
                                                          (in thousands)                                                    
                    Characteristic                                                                                          
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                       Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                                       2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
  Total, 16 years and over..........................   8,698   8,653   8,398    6.0     6.1     6.1     6.0     5.9     5.7 
    16 to 19 years..................................   1,235   1,109   1,128   16.7    16.9    17.5    17.1    15.7    16.1 
      16 to 17 years................................     488     500     515   17.7    18.8    19.3    20.2    17.5    18.3 
      18 to 19 years................................     743     619     613   16.1    15.7    16.2    15.2    14.7    14.7 
    20 years and over...............................   7,463   7,544   7,271    5.4     5.5     5.5     5.4     5.4     5.2 
      20 to 24 years................................   1,467   1,555   1,431    9.9    10.2    10.6    10.1    10.4     9.6 
      25 years and over.............................   5,990   5,995   5,853    4.9     5.0     4.9     4.9     4.8     4.7 
        25 to 54 years..............................   5,123   5,141   5,033    5.0     5.1     5.1     5.1     5.0     4.9 
          25 to 34 years............................   1,989   1,993   1,932    6.2     6.3     6.3     6.3     6.2     6.0 
          35 to 44 years............................   1,759   1,796   1,755    4.8     5.0     4.9     5.0     4.9     4.8 
          45 to 54 years............................   1,375   1,352   1,346    4.2     4.1     4.2     4.1     4.0     4.0 
        55 years and over...........................     930     886     883    4.4     4.1     4.0     3.8     3.9     3.9 
                                                                                                                            
  Men, 16 years and over............................   4,832   4,883   4,576    6.2     6.4     6.4     6.2     6.2     5.8 
    16 to 19 years..................................     675     660     631   18.1    17.6    19.6    18.7    18.3    17.4 
      16 to 17 years................................     263     267     261   19.4    20.6    22.1    20.4    18.3    18.4 
      18 to 19 years................................     411     393     369   17.6    15.6    18.2    17.9    18.1    16.9 
    20 years and over...............................   4,157   4,224   3,945    5.6     5.8     5.8     5.6     5.6     5.3 
      20 to 24 years................................     807     885     816   10.3    10.7    11.7    10.8    11.2    10.4 
      25 years and over.............................   3,377   3,349   3,170    5.1     5.2     5.0     5.0     5.0     4.7 
        25 to 54 years..............................   2,851   2,860   2,683    5.2     5.4     5.2     5.2     5.2     4.9 
          25 to 34 years............................   1,073   1,119   1,051    6.1     6.7     6.5     6.5     6.3     5.9 
          35 to 44 years............................     954     974     916    4.8     5.1     4.9     4.9     4.9     4.6 
          45 to 54 years............................     824     767     716    4.8     4.3     4.3     4.4     4.4     4.1 
        55 years and over...........................     526     489     487    4.6     4.4     4.2     4.0     4.1     4.0 
                                                                                                                            
  Women, 16 years and over..........................   3,866   3,770   3,823    5.7     5.8     5.8     5.7     5.5     5.6 
    16 to 19 years..................................     560     450     497   15.3    16.2    15.2    15.4    13.0    14.7 
      16 to 17 years................................     225     233     254   16.0    17.0    16.5    20.1    16.6    18.2 
      18 to 19 years................................     332     226     243   14.7    15.8    14.1    12.5    11.1    12.2 
    20 years and over...............................   3,306   3,320   3,326    5.2     5.2     5.3     5.2     5.1     5.1 
      20 to 24 years................................     660     669     615    9.4     9.7     9.5     9.3     9.6     8.8 
      25 years and over.............................   2,613   2,646   2,683    4.6     4.7     4.7     4.7     4.6     4.6 
        25 to 54 years..............................   2,272   2,281   2,350    4.8     4.8     4.9     4.9     4.8     5.0 
          25 to 34 years............................     916     874     882    6.3     5.7     6.0     6.1     6.0     6.1 
          35 to 44 years............................     805     823     839    4.7     4.9     4.8     5.2     4.9     5.0 
          45 to 54 years............................     551     584     630    3.5     3.8     4.0     3.7     3.7     3.9 
        55 years and over (2).......................     372     373     367    3.8     4.5     3.8     3.4     3.5     3.5 
                                                                                                                            
  Married men, spouse present.......................   1,698   1,741   1,564    3.7     3.9     3.8     3.8     3.7     3.3 
  Married women, spouse present.....................   1,339   1,384   1,410    3.8     3.9     3.9     3.8     3.8     3.9 
  Women who maintain families (2)...................     741     775     779    7.9     8.4     8.5     8.4     8.3     8.4 
                                                                                                                            
  Full-time workers (3).............................   7,344   7,364   7,019    6.1     6.2     6.2     6.1     6.1     5.8 
  Part-time workers (4).............................   1,345   1,311   1,354    5.3     5.3     5.7     5.5     5.1     5.3 

    1 Unemployment as a percent of the civilian labor force.
    2 Not seasonally adjusted.
    3 Full-time workers are unemployed persons who have expressed a desire to work full time (35 hours or more per week) or
  are on layoff from full-time jobs.
    4 Part-time workers are unemployed persons who have expressed a desire to work part time (less than 35 hours per week)
  or are on layoff from part-time jobs.
    NOTE:  Detail shown in this table will not necessarily add to totals because of the independent seasonal adjustment of
  the various series.  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey. 
  Data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.


  
 

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                              HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-8.  Unemployed persons by reason for unemployment

  (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                     Not seasonally adjusted               Seasonally adjusted              
                                                                                                                            
                        Reason                                                                                              
                                                                                                                            
                                                       Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                                       2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                 NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED                                                                                       
                                                                                                                            
  Job losers and persons who completed temporary                                                                            
     jobs...........................................   4,849   4,505   4,629   4,839   4,939   4,947   4,877   4,719   4,618
    On temporary layoff.............................   1,205     903   1,137   1,122   1,092   1,110   1,097   1,055   1,060
    Not on temporary layoff.........................   3,644   3,601   3,492   3,716   3,847   3,837   3,780   3,664   3,558
      Permanent job losers..........................   2,796   2,773   2,681   (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)  
      Persons who completed temporary jobs..........     848     828     811   (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)     (1)  
  Job leavers.......................................     790     885     715     866     790     836     789     931     783
  Reentrants........................................   2,157   2,324   2,065   2,475   2,530   2,436   2,518   2,440   2,366
  New entrants......................................     412     556     536     534     650     684     653     619     694
                                                                                                                            
                 PERCENT DISTRIBUTION                                                                                       
                                                                                                                            
  Total unemployed..................................   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0
   Job losers and persons who completed temporary                                                                           
     jobs...........................................    59.1    54.5    58.3    55.5    55.4    55.6    55.2    54.2    54.6
     On temporary layoff............................    14.7    10.9    14.3    12.9    12.3    12.5    12.4    12.1    12.5
     Not on temporary layoff........................    44.4    43.6    44.0    42.6    43.2    43.1    42.8    42.1    42.0
   Job leavers......................................     9.6    10.7     9.0     9.9     8.9     9.4     8.9    10.7     9.3
   Reentrants.......................................    26.3    28.1    26.0    28.4    28.4    27.4    28.5    28.0    28.0
   New entrants.....................................     5.0     6.7     6.8     6.1     7.3     7.7     7.4     7.1     8.2
                                                                                                                            
            UNEMPLOYED AS A PERCENT OF THE                                                                                  
                   CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE                                                                                     
                                                                                                                            
   Job losers and persons who completed temporary                                                                           
     jobs...........................................     3.3     3.1     3.2     3.3     3.4     3.4     3.3     3.2     3.1
   Job leavers......................................      .5      .6      .5      .6      .5      .6      .5      .6      .5
   Reentrants.......................................     1.5     1.6     1.4     1.7     1.7     1.7     1.7     1.7     1.6
   New entrants.....................................      .3      .4      .4      .4      .4      .5      .4      .4      .5

    1 Data not available.
    NOTE:  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.  Seasonally
  adjusted data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.






  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                              HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-9.  Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment

  (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                                                     Not seasonally adjusted               Seasonally adjusted              
                                                                                                                            
                       Duration                                                                                             
                                                                                                                            
                                                       Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                                       2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                            
                 NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED                                                                                       
                                                                                                                            
  Less than 5 weeks.................................   2,514   2,500   2,298   2,873   2,735   2,749   2,733   2,622   2,627
  5 to 14 weeks.....................................   2,581   2,514   2,439   2,591   2,630   2,736   2,585   2,556   2,450
  15 weeks and over.................................   3,113   3,255   3,208   3,312   3,561   3,511   3,478   3,484   3,403
     15 to 26 weeks.................................   1,248   1,316   1,343   1,420   1,561   1,438   1,460   1,448   1,513
     27 weeks and over..............................   1,865   1,939   1,865   1,891   2,001   2,073   2,018   2,036   1,890
                                                                                                                            
  Average (mean) duration, in weeks.................    18.8    20.1    20.0    18.5    19.2    19.6    19.4    20.0    19.6
  Median duration, in weeks.........................     9.7    10.2    10.6     9.6    10.0    10.1    10.3    10.4    10.4
                                                                                                                            
                 PERCENT DISTRIBUTION                                                                                       
                                                                                                                            
  Total unemployed..................................   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0   100.0
    Less than 5 weeks...............................    30.6    30.2    28.9    32.7    30.6    30.6    31.1    30.3    31.0
    5 to 14 weeks...................................    31.4    30.4    30.7    29.5    29.5    30.4    29.4    29.5    28.9
    15 weeks and over...............................    37.9    39.4    40.4    37.7    39.9    39.0    39.5    40.2    40.1
      15 to 26 weeks................................    15.2    15.9    16.9    16.2    17.5    16.0    16.6    16.7    17.8
      27 weeks and over.............................    22.7    23.5    23.5    21.6    22.4    23.0    22.9    23.5    22.3

   NOTE:  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.  Seasonally
  adjusted data have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.


 
 

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                                       HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-10.  Employed and unemployed persons by occupation, not seasonally adjusted

  (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                      Unemployment    
                                                                           Employed             Unemployed               rates        
                                                                                                                                     
                             Occupation                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                     
                                                                       Dec.       Dec.        Dec.       Dec.        Dec.       Dec.   
                                                                       2002       2003        2002       2003        2002       2003   
                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                     
       Total, 16 years and over (1)................................   136,599    138,556      8,209      7,945        5.7        5.4 
  Management, professional, and related occupations................    46,950     48,320      1,369      1,380        2.8        2.8 
    Management, business, and financial operations occupations.....    19,444     19,887        625        589        3.1        2.9 
    Professional and related occupations...........................    27,506     28,432        743        791        2.6        2.7 
  Service occupations..............................................    21,974     21,633      1,622      1,560        6.9        6.7 
  Sales and office occupations.....................................    35,672     35,770      1,872      1,835        5.0        4.9 
    Sales and related occupations..................................    16,305     16,543        862        909        5.0        5.2 
    Office and administrative support occupations..................    19,367     19,227      1,011        926        5.0        4.6 
  Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations.....    13,721     14,347      1,303      1,208        8.7        7.8 
    Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations.....................       904        907        108        164       10.7       15.3 
    Construction and extraction occupations........................     7,850      8,272        963        766       10.9        8.5 
    Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations..............     4,967      5,168        231        279        4.4        5.1 
  Production, transportation, and material moving occupations......    18,281     18,486      1,603      1,396        8.1        7.0 
    Production occupations.........................................     9,830      9,820        903        690        8.4        6.6 
    Transportation and material moving occupations.................     8,451      8,666        700        706        7.7        7.5 

    1 Persons with no previous work experience and persons whose last job was in the Armed Forces are included in the unemployed
  total.
    NOTE:  Occupations reflect the introduction of the 2002 Census occupational classification system derived from the 2000 Standard
  Occupational Classification system into the Current Population Survey.  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population
  controls used in the household survey.



   

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                                      HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-11.  Unemployed persons by industry, not seasonally adjusted
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                    Number of                                                       
                                                                    unemployed                              Unemployment             
                                                                     persons                                   rates                 
                       Industry                                   (in thousands)                                                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                             Dec.                Dec.                 Dec.                Dec.       
                                                             2002                2003                 2002                2003       
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                    
         Total, 16 years and over (1)...............         8,209               7,945                 5.7                 5.4      
  Nonagricultural private wage and salary workers...         6,904               6,456                 6.1                 5.7      
    Mining..........................................            45                  32                 7.8                 5.6      
    Construction....................................           941                 813                10.9                 9.3      
    Manufacturing...................................         1,188               1,025                 6.6                 5.9      
      Durable goods.................................           810                 647                 7.0                 5.9      
      Nondurable goods..............................           379                 378                 5.9                 5.8      
    Wholesale and retail trade......................         1,150               1,081                 5.7                 5.0      
    Transportation and utilities....................           243                 267                 4.6                 5.0      
    Information.....................................           255                 224                 7.2                 6.5      
    Financial activities............................           322                 283                 3.6                 3.0      
    Professional and business services..............         1,038                 948                 8.3                 7.6      
    Education and health services...................           558                 620                 3.2                 3.5      
    Leisure and hospitality.........................           922                 885                 8.2                 8.2      
    Other services..................................           241                 278                 4.2                 4.5      
  Agriculture and related private wage and salary                                                                                   
     workers........................................           120                 137                 9.8                10.9      
  Government workers................................           446                 516                 2.2                 2.5      
  Self employed and unpaid family workers...........           327                 299                 3.1                 2.8      

    1 Persons with no previous work experience are included in the unemployed total.
    NOTE:  Industries reflect the introduction of the 2002 Census industry classification system derived from the 2002 North
  American Industry Classification System into the Current Population Survey.  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised
  population controls used in the household survey.



  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                                        HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-12.  Alternative measures of labor underutilization

  (Percent)
                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                      
                                                               Not seasonally adjusted               Seasonally adjusted              
                                                                                                                                      
                            Measure                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                      
                                                                 Dec.    Nov.    Dec.    Dec.    Aug.    Sept.   Oct.    Nov.    Dec. 
                                                                 2002    2003    2003    2002    2003    2003    2003    2003    2003 
                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                      
  U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of                                                                          
     the civilian labor force.................................    2.1     2.2     2.2     2.3     2.4     2.4     2.4     2.4     2.3 
                                                                                                                                      
  U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as                                                                         
     a percent of the civilian labor force....................    3.3     3.1     3.2     3.3     3.4     3.4     3.3     3.2     3.1 
                                                                                                                                      
  U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor                                                                            
     force (official unemployment rate).......................    5.7     5.6     5.4     6.0     6.1     6.1     6.0     5.9     5.7 
                                                                                                                                      
  U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent                                                                         
     of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers.....    5.9     5.9     5.7     6.3     6.4     6.4     6.3     6.2     6.0 
                                                                                                                                      
  U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all                                                                            
     other marginally attached workers, as a percent of the                                                                           
     civilian labor force plus all marginally attached                                                                                
     workers..................................................    6.6     6.6     6.4     6.9     7.1     7.1     7.0     6.8     6.7 
                                                                                                                                      
  U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers,                                                                         
     plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a                                                                         
     percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally                                                                          
     attached workers.........................................    9.6     9.7     9.6     9.9    10.2    10.4    10.2    10.1     9.9 

    NOTE:  Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want
  and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past.  Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally
  attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for a job.  Persons employed part time for economic
  reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.  For further
  information, see "BLS introduces new range of alternative unemployment measures,"  in the October 1995 issue of the Monthly Labor
  Review.  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.  Seasonally adjusted data
  have been revised to reflect updated seasonal adjustment factors.



   

  HOUSEHOLD DATA                                                                                                  HOUSEHOLD DATA
  
  Table A-13.  Persons not in the labor force and multiple jobholders by sex, not seasonally adjusted

  (Numbers in thousands)
                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
                                                                            Total                Men                Women       
                                                                                                                                
                               Category                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
                                                                        Dec.      Dec.      Dec.      Dec.      Dec.      Dec.  
                                                                        2002      2003      2002      2003      2002      2003  
                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
                        NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
  Total not in the labor force......................................   73,934    76,007    27,998    28,710    45,936    47,298 
    Persons who currently want a job................................    4,227     4,355     1,985     1,858     2,243     2,496 
     Searched for work and available to work now (1)................    1,432     1,483       772       688       661       795 
          Reason not currently looking:                                                                                         
            Discouragement over job prospects (2)...................      403       433       250       212       154       221 
               Reasons other than discouragement (3)................    1,029     1,050       522       476       507       574 
                                                                                                                                
                         MULTIPLE JOBHOLDERS                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
  Total multiple jobholders (4).....................................    7,650     7,260     3,848     3,548     3,802     3,711 
      Percent of total employed.....................................      5.6       5.2       5.3       4.8       5.9       5.7 
                                                                                                                                
      Primary job full time, secondary job part time................    4,089     3,860     2,322     2,095     1,767     1,765 
      Primary and secondary jobs both part time.....................    1,735     1,618       503       478     1,232     1,141 
      Primary and secondary jobs both full time.....................      196       244       129       162        67        82 
      Hours vary on primary or secondary job........................    1,583     1,493       868       797       716       696 

    1 Data refer to persons who have searched for work during the prior 12 months and were available to take a job during the
  reference week.
    2 Includes thinks no work available, could not find work, lacks schooling or training, employer thinks too young or old, and
  other types of discrimination.
    3 Includes those who did not actively look for work in the prior 4 weeks for such reasons as child-care and transportation
  problems, as well as a small number for which reason for nonparticipation was not determined.
    4 Includes persons who work part time on their primary job and full time on their secondary job(s), not shown separately.
    NOTE:  Beginning in January 2003, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.
 
 
 
 

ESTABLISHMENT DATA                                                                                                ESTABLISHMENT DATA

Table B-1.  Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail

(In thousands)


                                         Not seasonally adjusted                    Seasonally adjusted

                                                                                                                           Change
           Industry                Dec.     Oct.    Nov.     Dec.      Dec.     Aug.     Sept.    Oct.    Nov.     Dec.     from:
                                   2002     2003    2003p    2003p     2002     2003     2003     2003    2003p    2003p  Nov. 2003-
                                                                                                                          Dec. 2003

          Total nonfarm......... 131,017  131,025  131,157  130,955  130,198  129,881  129,980  130,080  130,123  130,124        1

        Total private........... 109,117  109,253  109,282  109,129  108,642  108,411  108,524  108,607  108,651  108,656        5

    Goods-producing.............  22,256   22,221   22,097   21,877   22,323   21,982   21,978   21,966   21,954   21,942      -12

Natural resources and mining....     571      576      572      565      572      565      564      565      565      565        0
   Logging......................    68.4     68.0     68.0     64.6     67.9     63.6     63.7     64.2     64.8     63.7     -1.1
 Mining.........................   503.0    507.7    503.7    500.7    503.6    501.1    499.9    500.4    500.3    501.3      1.0
  Oil and gas extraction........   121.6    126.3    125.7    125.9    121.6    125.0    125.4    125.9    126.0    126.0       .0
  Mining, except oil and gas(1).   206.9    212.5    210.7    206.1    208.1    209.1    207.5    208.1    207.9    207.5      -.4
   Coal mining..................    74.2     72.5     73.0     73.2     73.3     72.9     71.5     72.2     72.2     72.4       .2
  Support activities for mining.   174.5    168.9    167.3    168.7    173.9    167.0    167.0    166.4    166.4    167.8      1.4

Construction....................   6,651    7,051    6,961    6,791    6,731    6,825    6,841    6,845    6,859    6,873       14
  Construction of buildings..... 1,591.3  1,657.6  1,634.9  1,623.2  1,595.3  1,610.9  1,620.1  1,622.4  1,621.2  1,628.0      6.8
  Heavy and civil engineering
   construction.................   873.9    974.7    944.4    883.6    915.3    913.9    915.8    913.3    917.9    919.4      1.5
  Specialty trade contractors... 4,185.7  4,418.2  4,381.3  4,284.3  4,220.7  4,300.3  4,305.5  4,309.7  4,320.1  4,325.3      5.2

Manufacturing...................  15,034   14,594   14,564   14,521   15,020   14,592   14,573   14,556   14,530   14,504      -26
   Production workers...........  10,601   10,242   10,212   10,170   10,595   10,229   10,207   10,195   10,176   10,154      -22

 Durable goods..................   9,329    9,012    9,018    9,010    9,316    9,018    9,010    9,004    9,001    8,993       -8
   Production workers...........   6,426    6,180    6,186    6,173    6,417    6,182    6,169    6,165    6,164    6,156       -8

  Wood products.................   544.9    547.8    548.3    545.1    548.1    538.2    542.1    544.2    547.2    547.5       .3
  Nonmetallic mineral products..   508.0    505.7    505.0    497.2    510.8    501.4    500.3    499.7    500.1    500.0      -.1
  Primary metals................   500.7    469.5    468.0    470.6    499.7    475.9    472.4    470.6    469.0    470.1      1.1
  Fabricated metal products..... 1,518.5  1,471.6  1,473.4  1,475.2  1,516.0  1,469.2  1,465.8  1,468.6  1,470.4  1,471.9      1.5
  Machinery..................... 1,213.7  1,161.1  1,165.9  1,165.8  1,212.4  1,168.0  1,168.1  1,165.9  1,166.9  1,163.2     -3.7
  Computer and electronic
   products(1).................. 1,466.7  1,383.2  1,384.0  1,381.9  1,462.2  1,392.5  1,389.5  1,384.3  1,382.2  1,377.2     -5.0
   Computer and peripheral
    equipment...................   242.0    218.7    217.7    217.3    241.0    221.9    221.6    218.8    217.5    216.3     -1.2
   Communications equipment.....   180.8    169.7    171.2    170.6    180.1    170.9    170.5    170.4    170.8    169.6     -1.2
   Semiconductors and electronic
    components..................   504.5    473.5    474.8    474.6    503.7    479.5    477.6    474.8    474.9    473.7     -1.2
   Electronic instruments.......   441.0    429.0    429.1    428.4    441.3    429.0    429.3    429.2    429.0    428.1      -.9
  Electrical equipment and
   appliances...................   485.0    458.6    459.5    461.5    485.2    462.1    461.1    460.8    461.2    461.6       .4
  Transportation equipment...... 1,813.5  1,769.2  1,769.6  1,771.5  1,804.7  1,767.6  1,768.1  1,768.2  1,763.2  1,761.5     -1.7
  Furniture and related products   589.0    575.7    576.2    576.3    589.1    572.7    573.7    574.5    575.5    576.2       .7
  Miscellaneous manufacturing...   688.7    669.7    668.2    664.6    687.9    670.4    668.8    667.2    665.7    664.1     -1.6

 Nondurable goods...............   5,705    5,582    5,546    5,511    5,704    5,574    5,563    5,552    5,529    5,511      -18
   Production workers...........   4,175    4,062    4,026    3,997    4,178    4,047    4,038    4,030    4,012    3,998      -14

  Food manufacturing............ 1,521.9  1,547.9  1,527.8  1,513.3  1,518.5  1,521.7  1,522.7  1,523.7  1,513.7  1,511.3     -2.4
  Beverages and tobacco products   198.2    196.8    191.8    189.1    200.2    194.8    193.3    193.4    192.0    191.0     -1.0
  Textile mills.................   284.1    254.0    252.9    249.1    284.9    259.6    258.3    255.4    253.4    250.2     -3.2
  Textile product mills.........   193.8    178.6    179.2    179.0    193.7    178.4    179.7    179.2    179.1    178.8      -.3
  Apparel.......................   334.6    298.7    298.6    292.1    337.2    299.0    296.5    296.3    296.0    293.4     -2.6
  Leather and allied products...    47.1     42.5     42.9     42.9     47.3     43.1     43.1     42.9     42.9     42.8      -.1
  Paper and paper products......   542.9    525.1    523.7    521.3    541.5    526.4    525.0    523.9    521.9    519.8     -2.1
  Printing and related support
   activities...................   693.9    686.6    685.0    681.2    689.8    690.0    687.7    684.5    682.8    678.5     -4.3
  Petroleum and coal products...   118.3    116.5    115.7    113.2    119.7    116.9    116.0    115.5    115.0    114.8      -.2
  Chemicals.....................   926.0    905.2    903.4    907.8    925.8    914.8    912.5    909.8    907.1    908.0       .9
  Plastics and rubber products..   843.9    829.6    824.8    821.9    845.4    829.3    828.6    826.9    825.1    822.7     -2.4

    Service-providing........... 108,761  108,804  109,060  109,078  107,875  107,899  108,002  108,114  108,169  108,182       13

     Private service-providing..  86,861   87,032   87,185   87,252   86,319   86,429   86,546   86,641   86,697   86,714       17

Trade, transportation, and
 utilities......................  26,059   25,364   25,674   25,867   25,378   25,217   25,243   25,256   25,236   25,201      -35

 Wholesale trade................ 5,612.2  5,561.7  5,561.1  5,573.5  5,603.9  5,550.0  5,551.2  5,551.3  5,553.4  5,565.3     11.9
  Durable goods................. 2,982.2  2,938.4  2,942.3  2,949.2  2,978.7  2,934.5  2,932.7  2,934.4  2,940.5  2,945.6      5.1
  Nondurable goods.............. 2,012.4  2,000.2  1,994.1  1,998.0  2,009.6  1,997.7  1,995.9  1,994.4  1,989.7  1,995.4      5.7
  Electronic markets and agents
   and brokers..................   617.6    623.1    624.7    626.3    615.6    617.8    622.6    622.5    623.2    624.3      1.1

 Retail trade...................15,626.2 15,053.0 15,362.1 15,536.1 15,005.6 14,975.1 14,986.9 14,996.1 14,968.6 14,930.6    -38.0
  Motor vehicle and parts
   dealers(1)................... 1,872.9  1,897.3  1,887.4  1,879.2  1,878.9  1,880.5  1,884.6  1,884.6  1,884.0  1,885.8      1.8
   Automobile dealers........... 1,248.0  1,255.2  1,248.6  1,245.0  1,249.6  1,248.1  1,249.5  1,248.6  1,247.2  1,247.1      -.1
  Furniture and home furnishings
   stores.......................   567.4    545.6    563.2    572.3    548.4    541.6    544.1    545.4    548.9    551.2      2.3
  Electronics and appliance
   stores.......................   552.2    521.9    535.4    548.8    529.8    519.9    520.4    521.5    523.6    525.4      1.8
  Building material and garden
   supply stores................ 1,168.9  1,209.3  1,202.9  1,192.8  1,183.9  1,203.3  1,210.0  1,209.3  1,209.5  1,207.9     -1.6
  Food and beverage stores...... 2,883.1  2,805.3  2,818.7  2,827.9  2,833.5  2,798.0  2,796.7  2,806.6  2,786.6  2,779.1     -7.5
  Health and personal care
   stores.......................   967.6    975.8    986.2    990.3    952.5    965.9    969.4    973.6    977.7    975.0     -2.7
  Gasoline stations.............   906.3    899.4    899.2    893.3    904.2    907.1    903.9    898.9    899.0    892.7     -6.3
  Clothing and clothing
   accessories stores........... 1,419.7  1,278.1  1,333.3  1,387.2  1,308.5  1,278.9  1,278.2  1,284.0  1,279.3  1,278.5      -.8
  Sporting goods, hobby, book,
   and music stores.............   713.6    640.0    669.2    700.2    637.8    640.6    640.3    638.7    636.9    630.0     -6.9
  General merchandise stores(1). 3,106.7  2,884.9  3,040.0  3,105.5  2,827.6  2,857.7  2,859.1  2,852.9  2,843.4  2,830.9    -12.5
   Department stores............ 1,920.7  1,724.8  1,845.9  1,892.7  1,727.5  1,703.6  1,704.1  1,704.1  1,701.7  1,700.7     -1.0
  Miscellaneous store retailers.   991.7    946.2    959.9    966.3    954.6    941.0    941.0    940.7    939.8    930.5     -9.3
  Nonstore retailers............   476.1    449.2    466.7    472.3    445.9    440.6    439.2    439.9    439.9    443.6      3.7

 Transportation and warehousing. 4,224.1  4,157.4  4,159.9  4,164.7  4,170.7  4,101.2  4,114.1  4,116.7  4,122.0  4,112.3     -9.7
  Air transportation............   554.6    498.5    499.6    502.2    553.9    500.0    501.4    498.4    500.4    502.3      1.9
  Rail transportation...........   217.5    217.1    217.5    216.5    216.3    214.8    216.8    216.4    216.2    215.6      -.6
  Water transportation..........    49.1     49.5     47.3     47.6     50.3     49.9     48.6     49.1     48.7     48.9       .2
  Truck transportation.......... 1,336.5  1,349.5  1,345.7  1,338.4  1,331.9  1,331.0  1,330.1  1,332.1  1,334.1  1,334.0      -.1
  Transit and ground passenger
   transportation...............   371.0    371.6    370.4    372.2    360.8    348.3    355.3    358.3    359.0    358.7      -.3
  Pipeline transportation.......    40.5     38.7     39.2     38.9     40.2     38.9     39.1     38.9     39.0     38.7      -.3
  Scenic and sightseeing
   transportation...............    22.1     30.1     26.3     25.6     25.6     30.0     29.7     29.9     30.1     30.6       .5
  Support activities for
   transportation...............   533.7    524.1    520.8    523.2    531.2    519.1    521.8    520.7    520.3    520.4       .1
  Couriers and messengers.......   573.0    555.5    565.7    577.6    545.0    557.8    557.3    556.4    556.7    552.5     -4.2
  Warehousing and storage.......   526.1    522.8    527.4    522.5    515.5    511.4    514.0    516.5    517.5    510.6     -6.9

 Utilities......................   596.4    591.5    590.9    592.4    597.3    590.8    591.0    592.3    592.0    592.4       .4

Information.....................   3,363    3,257    3,268    3,280    3,353    3,267    3,270    3,266    3,265    3,270        5
  Publishing industries, except
   Internet.....................   966.4    939.0    942.3    944.4    962.2    941.5    939.2    939.5    939.9    939.8      -.1
  Motion picture and sound
   recording industries.........   384.8    364.0    372.2    382.8    381.6    367.2    373.3    373.1    375.2    378.4      3.2
  Broadcasting, except Internet.   334.0    323.6    324.6    324.9    332.1    322.9    325.0    323.2    323.0    323.0       .0
  Internet publishing and
   broadcasting.................    32.9     33.9     34.5     34.7     32.9     34.2     34.3     34.2     34.6     34.8       .2
  Telecommunications............ 1,161.4  1,124.9  1,122.0  1,123.6  1,162.5  1,125.7  1,125.0  1,123.3  1,122.3  1,125.6      3.3
  ISPs, search portals, and data
   processing...................   437.3    425.9    425.9    424.1    435.8    429.7    427.4    426.4    424.2    423.0     -1.2
  Other information services....    45.8     46.1     46.0     45.8     45.8     45.5     45.7     46.0     45.9     45.8      -.1

Financial activities............   7,890    7,967    7,951    7,949    7,889    7,980    7,986    7,971    7,964    7,952      -12
 Finance and insurance.......... 5,868.1  5,911.1  5,907.4  5,897.4  5,861.0  5,924.4  5,933.2  5,916.3  5,908.1  5,891.5    -16.6
  Monetary authorities - central
   bank.........................    22.7     21.9     21.9     21.8     22.7     22.0     22.0     21.9     21.9     21.8      -.1
  Credit intermediation and
   related activities(1)........ 2,735.9  2,779.7  2,769.8  2,758.3  2,729.1  2,788.8  2,791.3  2,781.3  2,769.4  2,752.8    -16.6
   Depository credit
    intermediation(1)........... 1,751.4  1,769.0  1,765.5  1,767.2  1,751.3  1,772.4  1,773.8  1,774.5  1,770.4  1,767.8     -2.6
    Commercial banking.......... 1,293.1  1,299.7  1,295.4  1,294.3  1,292.8  1,304.8  1,304.1  1,303.3  1,298.5  1,294.7     -3.8
  Securities, commodity
   contracts, investments.......   798.0    800.1    805.9    811.6    799.4    794.9    799.0    800.7    806.6    811.9      5.3
  Insurance carriers and related
   activities................... 2,227.3  2,228.7  2,228.9  2,223.6  2,225.7  2,237.1  2,238.9  2,231.2  2,229.2  2,223.1     -6.1
  Funds, trusts, and other
   financial vehicles...........    84.2     80.7     80.9     82.1     84.1     81.6     82.0     81.2     81.0     81.9       .9
 Real estate and rental and
  leasing....................... 2,021.6  2,055.5  2,043.6  2,051.7  2,028.3  2,055.2  2,052.7  2,054.5  2,055.5  2,060.1      4.6
  Real estate................... 1,352.2  1,375.8  1,369.9  1,373.9  1,355.7  1,371.5  1,372.4  1,373.6  1,374.9  1,377.8      2.9
  Rental and leasing services...   642.5    649.1    643.5    646.9    645.8    654.2    650.5    650.5    650.2    651.2      1.0
  Lessors of nonfinancial
   intangible assets............    26.9     30.6     30.2     30.9     26.8     29.5     29.8     30.4     30.4     31.1       .7

Professional and business
 services.......................  15,922   16,331   16,271   16,193   15,972   16,054   16,107   16,142   16,179   16,224       45
 Professional and technical
  services(1)................... 6,681.2  6,665.9  6,695.6  6,732.9  6,716.9  6,657.3  6,685.4  6,714.0  6,736.5  6,754.3     17.8
   Legal services............... 1,121.1  1,128.3  1,130.3  1,127.6  1,120.2  1,121.9  1,124.9  1,128.4  1,128.3  1,127.1     -1.2
   Accounting and bookkeeping
    services....................   831.0    792.8    812.9    858.7    872.6    854.3    856.1    868.3    880.2    891.7     11.5
   Architectural and engineering
    services.................... 1,245.6  1,253.0  1,253.0  1,248.0  1,252.5  1,238.1  1,247.2  1,247.8  1,252.3  1,253.0       .7
   Computer systems design and
    related services............ 1,144.8  1,136.1  1,140.1  1,138.1  1,142.7  1,125.4  1,133.4  1,135.8  1,137.8  1,135.3     -2.5
   Management and technical
    consulting services.........   742.0    750.0    748.6    754.0    739.8    736.1    739.7    746.6    746.6    750.2      3.6
 Management of companies and
  enterprises................... 1,708.4  1,694.5  1,701.2  1,698.6  1,694.2  1,690.8  1,691.7  1,688.8  1,688.8  1,685.2     -3.6
 Administrative and waste
  services...................... 7,532.3  7,971.0  7,874.5  7,761.0  7,561.0  7,706.1  7,729.6  7,738.8  7,753.2  7,784.9     31.7
  Administrative and support
   services(1).................. 7,217.3  7,652.9  7,562.4  7,449.8  7,244.9  7,389.2  7,413.1  7,423.7  7,440.6  7,471.7     31.1
   Employment services(1)....... 3,277.7  3,586.9  3,541.2  3,506.7  3,259.2  3,373.7  3,394.5  3,415.5  3,439.0  3,474.9     35.9
    Temporary help services..... 2,169.9  2,389.5  2,354.6  2,340.6  2,159.4  2,236.6  2,261.1  2,271.9  2,295.0  2,325.0     30.0
   Business support services....   765.6    758.3    757.6    756.3    757.0    750.4    754.3    752.7    749.9    747.2     -2.7
   Services to buildings and
    dwellings................... 1,531.2  1,645.8  1,612.4  1,539.2  1,591.7  1,613.5  1,610.3  1,603.3  1,601.7  1,603.0      1.3
  Waste management and
   remediation services.........   315.0    318.1    312.1    311.2    316.1    316.9    316.5    315.1    312.6    313.2       .6

Education and health services...  16,516   16,805   16,867   16,827   16,373   16,541   16,570   16,625   16,653   16,674       21
 Educational services........... 2,811.7  2,902.6  2,935.1  2,882.1  2,695.1  2,699.8  2,715.6  2,738.7  2,748.2  2,755.4      7.2
 Health care and social
  assistance....................13,704.1 13,902.0 13,931.7 13,944.9 13,677.5 13,840.8 13,854.1 13,885.8 13,904.7 13,918.6     13.9
  Ambulatory health care
   services(1).................. 4,723.4  4,819.4  4,824.7  4,832.9  4,712.5  4,791.7  4,791.7  4,809.2  4,816.6  4,822.6      6.0
   Offices of physicians........ 2,027.6  2,069.4  2,074.0  2,084.3  2,022.1  2,056.6  2,056.9  2,068.3  2,072.6  2,078.6      6.0
   Outpatient care centers......   413.2    413.2    416.9    416.1    412.2    413.7    413.7    414.1    416.1    415.2      -.9
   Home health care services....   696.3    719.7    715.6    717.4    693.0    711.8    711.3    714.0    712.7    714.7      2.0
  Hospitals..................... 4,193.9  4,242.3  4,253.0  4,255.2  4,190.4  4,235.2  4,239.5  4,242.5  4,249.2  4,252.4      3.2
  Nursing and residential care
   facilities(1)................ 2,770.7  2,799.6  2,804.2  2,806.0  2,766.1  2,789.7  2,794.4  2,798.3  2,800.1  2,802.0      1.9
   Nursing care facilities...... 1,581.9  1,588.9  1,590.2  1,587.3  1,579.2  1,583.8  1,586.9  1,587.6  1,588.0  1,586.4     -1.6
  Social assistance(1).......... 2,016.1  2,040.7  2,049.8  2,050.8  2,008.5  2,024.2  2,028.5  2,035.8  2,038.8  2,041.6      2.8
   Child day care services......   733.5    747.9    748.7    746.5    725.2    732.4    731.2    736.0    737.0    737.4       .4

Leisure and hospitality.........  11,784   12,005   11,853   11,841   12,019   12,051   12,056   12,071   12,091   12,087       -4
 Arts, entertainment, and
  recreation.................... 1,664.9  1,705.5  1,622.7  1,625.7  1,817.8  1,759.8  1,759.1  1,759.9  1,759.4  1,758.5      -.9
  Performing arts and spectator
   sports.......................   348.2    341.7    334.5    335.6    367.2    347.3    351.6    351.1    349.1    349.5       .4
  Museums, historical sites,
   zoos, and parks..............   107.5    109.9    108.3    106.9    110.5    109.8    109.1    109.8    110.2    109.9      -.3
  Amusements, gambling, and
   recreation................... 1,209.2  1,253.9  1,179.9  1,183.2  1,340.1  1,302.7  1,298.4  1,299.0  1,300.1  1,299.1     -1.0
 Accommodations and food
  services......................10,118.6 10,299.4 10,230.5 10,214.9 10,200.8 10,290.8 10,296.7 10,310.7 10,331.6 10,328.0     -3.6
  Accommodations................ 1,728.4  1,743.9  1,706.0  1,695.5  1,805.2  1,769.1  1,754.7  1,751.8  1,765.9  1,768.5      2.6
  Food services and drinking
   places....................... 8,390.2  8,555.5  8,524.5  8,519.4  8,395.6  8,521.7  8,542.0  8,558.9  8,565.7  8,559.5     -6.2

Other services..................   5,327    5,303    5,301    5,295    5,335    5,319    5,314    5,310    5,309    5,306       -3
  Repair and maintenance........ 1,220.9  1,217.3  1,210.1  1,202.4  1,224.3  1,222.3  1,219.7  1,215.3  1,210.7  1,206.8     -3.9
  Personal and laundry services. 1,234.2  1,223.5  1,224.8  1,217.0  1,232.7  1,223.5  1,219.7  1,220.3  1,221.4  1,217.0     -4.4
  Membership associations and
   organizations................ 2,871.9  2,862.1  2,865.8  2,875.9  2,878.2  2,872.7  2,874.8  2,874.0  2,876.6  2,882.0      5.4

Government......................  21,900   21,772   21,875   21,826   21,556   21,470   21,456   21,473   21,472   21,468       -4
 Federal........................   2,800    2,728    2,708    2,731    2,778    2,745    2,742    2,730    2,720    2,710      -10
  Federal, except U.S. Postal
   Service...................... 1,951.6  1,919.8  1,902.9  1,906.1  1,956.4  1,929.5  1,929.6  1,919.5  1,913.3  1,913.4       .1
  U.S. Postal Service...........   848.2    808.0    805.2    825.0    821.7    815.8    812.3    810.3    807.0    796.4    -10.6
 State government...............   5,068    5,076    5,092    5,046    4,984    4,928    4,948    4,952    4,954    4,951       -3
  State government education.... 2,304.4  2,341.1  2,364.4  2,318.9  2,202.5  2,186.6  2,203.3  2,208.9  2,212.1  2,209.6     -2.5
  State government, excluding
   education.................... 2,763.3  2,734.6  2,727.4  2,726.7  2,781.0  2,741.6  2,744.3  2,743.4  2,742.0  2,740.9     -1.1
 Local government...............  14,032   13,968   14,075   14,049   13,794   13,797   13,766   13,791   13,798   13,807        9
  Local government education.... 8,014.6  7,925.1  8,034.1  8,019.9  7,698.1  7,735.1  7,682.6  7,697.2  7,697.9  7,704.5      6.6
  Local government, excluding
   education.................... 6,017.7  6,043.1  6,040.7  6,028.6  6,095.8  6,061.9  6,083.8  6,093.4  6,099.9  6,102.0      2.1


  1 Includes other industries, not shown separately.
  p = preliminary.
   
 
 
 

ESTABLISHMENT DATA                                                                                              ESTABLISHMENT DATA

Table B-2.  Average weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers(1) on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector 
and selected industry detail


                                                   Not seasonally adjusted              Seasonally adjusted

                                                                                                                         Change
                  Industry                       Dec.   Oct.   Nov.   Dec.    Dec.   Aug.   Sept.  Oct.   Nov.   Dec.     from:
                                                 2002   2003   2003p  2003p   2002   2003   2003   2003   2003p  2003p  Nov. 2003-
                                                                                                                        Dec. 2003


        Total private.........................   34.1   33.8   34.1   33.7    33.8   33.7   33.7   33.8   33.9   33.7      -0.2

    Goods-producing...........................   40.1   40.2   40.3   40.3    39.8   39.8   39.9   39.9   40.1   40.0       -.1

Natural resources and mining..................   43.0   44.0   44.1   43.4    43.0   43.7   43.7   43.8   43.8   43.6       -.2

Construction..................................   37.6   38.9   38.2   37.7    38.2   38.6   38.4   38.4   38.4   38.3       -.1

Manufacturing.................................   41.2   40.7   41.2   41.5    40.5   40.2   40.5   40.6   40.8   40.7       -.1
   Overtime hours.............................    4.7    4.4    4.6    4.9     4.3    4.1    4.2    4.3    4.5    4.6        .1

 Durable goods................................   41.6   41.1   41.5   42.0    40.9   40.5   40.9   41.0   41.2   41.2        .0
   Overtime hours.............................    4.7    4.5    4.7    5.3     4.3    4.2    4.3    4.5    4.6    4.8        .2

  Wood products...............................   40.0   41.0   41.4   41.1    39.9   40.4   40.4   40.8   41.2   40.9       -.3
  Nonmetallic mineral products................   41.5   42.6   42.7   42.0    41.9   42.1   41.9   42.2   42.4   42.4        .0
  Primary metals..............................   43.3   42.3   43.0   43.6    42.6   41.9   42.2   42.4   42.8   42.8        .0
  Fabricated metal products...................   41.4   41.0   41.4   41.7    40.5   40.5   40.7   40.9   41.0   40.8       -.2
  Machinery...................................   41.4   40.8   41.5   42.3    40.5   40.7   41.0   41.0   41.3   41.4        .1
  Computer and electronic products............   41.5   40.8   41.3   41.3    40.5   41.1   40.6   40.6   40.7   40.4       -.3
  Electrical equipment and appliances.........   41.8   41.2   41.4   42.4    40.6   40.6   40.6   40.9   40.8   41.1        .3
  Transportation equipment....................   43.0   42.4   42.5   43.8    42.4   40.7   42.0   42.0   42.3   42.7        .4
  Furniture and related products..............   40.4   39.1   39.8   40.5    39.9   39.1   39.3   39.3   39.6   39.8        .2
  Miscellaneous manufacturing.................   39.4   38.3   39.3   39.2    38.8   38.2   38.4   38.3   38.9   38.5       -.4

 Nondurable goods.............................   40.5   40.1   40.7   40.6    40.0   39.7   39.9   40.0   40.2   40.0       -.2
   Overtime hours.............................    4.6    4.3    4.5    4.4     4.4    3.9    4.1    4.1    4.3    4.2       -.1

  Food manufacturing..........................   40.1   39.7   40.2   39.9    39.4   39.3   39.4   39.4   39.4   39.3       -.1
  Beverages and tobacco products..............   38.8   39.2   40.0   38.7    38.5   38.8   39.3   39.0   39.9   38.7      -1.2
  Textile mills...............................   40.6   39.1   40.1   40.2    40.4   38.7   39.1   39.3   39.9   39.7       -.2
  Textile product mills.......................   40.1   40.4   40.4   40.6    39.3   39.9   40.6   40.3   40.2   39.8       -.4
  Apparel.....................................   36.4   36.0   36.4   35.9    36.3   34.7   35.2   35.8   36.0   35.7       -.3
  Leather and allied products.................   39.2   39.2   39.6   40.3    39.0   39.0   38.6   39.3   39.5   40.0        .5
  Paper and paper products....................   42.6   41.7   42.2   42.7    41.8   41.2   41.2   41.6   41.8   41.8        .0
  Printing and related support activities.....   38.9   38.9   39.0   38.8    38.5   38.0   38.2   38.6   38.5   38.3       -.2
  Petroleum and coal products.................   44.0   45.2   46.0   44.5    44.0   44.4   44.2   45.0   45.9   44.6      -1.3
  Chemicals...................................   42.9   42.1   43.1   42.9    42.3   42.3   42.3   42.1   42.7   42.4       -.3
  Plastics and rubber products................   41.0   40.8   41.1   41.6    40.3   40.2   40.5   40.7   40.7   40.8        .1

     Private service-providing................   32.8   32.3   32.7   32.2    32.5   32.4   32.4   32.4   32.5   32.3       -.2

Trade, transportation, and utilities..........   33.9   33.6   33.7   33.4    33.5   33.5   33.6   33.6   33.6   33.4       -.2

 Wholesale trade..............................   38.2   38.0   38.6   37.7    37.8   37.9   37.9   38.1   38.0   37.8       -.2

 Retail trade.................................   31.2   30.8   30.7   30.8    30.8   30.8   30.9   30.9   30.9   30.7       -.2

 Transportation and warehousing...............   37.6   37.1   37.7   36.9    37.0   36.9   36.9   37.1   37.1   36.6       -.5

 Utilities....................................   41.1   41.2   41.5   40.5    41.2   40.9   40.5   41.0   41.1   40.6       -.5

Information...................................   36.8   36.3   37.0   36.2    36.4   36.3   36.2   36.3   36.5   36.3       -.2

Financial activities..........................   36.3   35.3   36.1   35.2    35.7   35.5   35.4   35.5   35.5   35.3       -.2

Professional and business services............   34.5   33.9   34.3   33.7    34.2   33.9   34.0   34.0   34.1   33.8       -.3

Education and health services.................   32.6   32.4   32.9   32.5    32.4   32.7   32.5   32.5   32.7   32.6       -.1

Leisure and hospitality.......................   25.8   25.5   25.7   25.2    25.8   25.4   25.6   25.6   25.7   25.6       -.1

Other services................................   32.1   31.7   31.8   31.5    31.9   31.7   31.7   31.7   31.7   31.5       -.2


  1 Data relate to production workers in natural resources and mining and manufacturing, construction workers in construction,
and nonsupervisory workers in the service-providing industries.  These groups account for approximately four-fifths of the 
total employment on private nonfarm payrolls.
  p = preliminary.
 
 
 
 

ESTABLISHMENT DATA                                                                                          ESTABLISHMENT DATA

Table B-3.  Average hourly and weekly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers(1) on private nonfarm payrolls
by industry sector and selected industry detail


                                                       Average hourly earnings                  Average weekly earnings

                  Industry                         Dec.      Oct.     Nov.      Dec.       Dec.      Oct.     Nov.      Dec.
                                                   2002      2003     2003p     2003p      2002      2003     2003p     2003p

        Total private........................... $15.26    $15.46    $15.53    $15.52    $520.37   $522.55   $529.57   $523.02
         Seasonally adjusted....................  15.20     15.46     15.47     15.50     513.76    522.55    524.43    522.35

    Goods-producing.............................  16.66     16.94     16.95     17.04     668.07    680.99    683.09    686.71

Natural resources and mining....................  17.40     17.77     17.76     18.01     748.20    781.88    783.22    781.63

Construction....................................  18.90     19.11     19.11     19.18     710.64    743.38    730.00    723.09

Manufacturing...................................  15.65     15.81     15.87     16.02     644.78    643.47    653.84    664.83

 Durable goods..................................  16.39     16.54     16.56     16.73     681.82    679.79    687.24    702.66
  Wood products.................................  12.49     12.82     12.88     12.84     499.60    525.62    533.23    527.72
  Nonmetallic mineral products..................  15.55     15.95     15.94     15.91     645.33    679.47    680.64    668.22
  Primary metals................................  18.09     18.22     18.27     18.33     783.30    770.71    785.61    799.19
  Fabricated metal products.....................  14.97     15.02     15.05     15.25     619.76    615.82    623.07    635.93
  Machinery.....................................  16.20     16.38     16.52     16.71     670.68    668.30    685.58    706.83
  Computer and electronic products..............  16.41     16.74     16.81     16.79     681.02    682.99    694.25    693.43
  Electrical equipment and appliances...........  14.16     14.34     14.55     14.63     591.89    590.81    602.37    620.31
  Transportation equipment......................  21.42     21.36     21.27     21.58     921.06    905.66    903.98    945.20
  Furniture and related products................  12.93     13.01     13.08     13.21     522.37    508.69    520.58    535.01
  Miscellaneous manufacturing...................  13.08     13.47     13.49     13.57     515.35    515.90    530.16    531.94

 Nondurable goods...............................  14.48     14.68     14.79     14.88     586.44    588.67    601.95    604.13
  Food manufacturing............................  12.81     12.75     12.81     12.94     513.68    506.18    514.96    516.31
  Beverages and tobacco products................  18.04     17.90     18.30     17.96     699.95    701.68    732.00    695.05
  Textile mills.................................  11.83     12.02     12.14     12.20     480.30    469.98    486.81    490.44
  Textile product mills.........................  11.20     11.39     11.42     11.56     449.12    460.16    461.37    469.34
  Apparel.......................................   9.30      9.70      9.70      9.85     338.52    349.20    353.08    353.62
  Leather and allied products...................  11.51     11.89     11.94     11.99     451.19    466.09    472.82    483.20
  Paper and paper products......................  17.26     17.57     17.71     17.66     735.28    732.67    747.36    754.08
  Printing and related support activities.......  15.35     15.42     15.53     15.58     597.12    599.84    605.67    604.50
  Petroleum and coal products...................  23.65     23.69     24.00     23.97    1040.60   1070.79   1104.00   1066.67
  Chemicals.....................................  18.34     18.68     18.84     18.84     786.79    786.43    812.00    808.24
  Plastics and rubber products..................  13.81     14.17     14.22     14.41     566.21    578.14    584.44    599.46

     Private service-providing..................  14.88     15.05     15.15     15.11     488.06    486.12    495.41    486.54

Trade, transportation, and utilities............  14.12     14.39     14.43     14.35     478.67    483.50    486.29    479.29

 Wholesale trade................................  17.22     17.39     17.48     17.37     657.80    660.82    674.73    654.85

 Retail trade...................................  11.76     11.92     11.92     11.91     366.91    367.14    365.94    366.83

 Transportation and warehousing.................  16.04     16.35     16.51     16.52     603.10    606.59    622.43    609.59

 Utilities......................................  24.26     25.20     25.44     25.50     997.09   1038.24   1055.76   1032.75

Information.....................................  20.90     21.35     21.36     21.17     769.12    775.01    790.32    766.35

Financial activities............................  16.64     17.23     17.27     17.12     604.03    608.22    623.45    602.62

Professional and business services..............  17.28     17.17     17.45     17.36     596.16    582.06    598.54    585.03

Education and health services...................  15.55     15.81     15.83     15.89     506.93    512.24    520.81    516.43

Leisure and hospitality.........................   8.81      8.77      8.80      8.92     227.30    223.64    226.16    224.78

Other services..................................  14.01     13.95     14.01     14.05     449.72    442.22    445.52    442.58


  1 See footnote 1, table B-2.
  p = preliminary.
   
 
 
 

ESTABLISHMENT DATA                                                                             ESTABLISHMENT DATA

Table B-4.  Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers(1) on private nonfarm payrolls 
by industry sector and selected industry detail, seasonally adjusted


                                                                                                       Percent
                  Industry                         Dec.     Aug.     Sept.    Oct.    Nov.     Dec.  change from:
                                                   2002     2003     2003     2003    2003p    2003p  Nov. 2003-
                                                                                                      Dec. 2003
        Total private:
         Current dollars........................ $15.20   $15.45   $15.44   $15.46   $15.47   $15.50      0.2
         Constant (1982) dollars(2).............   8.30     8.30     8.27     8.29     8.32     N.A.     (3)

    Goods-producing.............................  16.60    16.86    16.89    16.90    16.92    16.97       .3

Natural resources and mining....................  17.37    17.69    17.74    17.82    17.82    17.95       .7

Construction....................................  18.81    18.99    19.02    19.03    19.08    19.10       .1

Manufacturing...................................  15.55    15.79    15.83    15.83    15.85    15.90       .3
   Excluding overtime(4)........................  14.77    15.02    15.05    15.03    15.02    15.05       .2

 Durable goods..................................  16.28    16.49    16.55    16.53    16.52    16.60       .5

 Nondurable goods...............................  14.41    14.70    14.71    14.73    14.79    14.80       .1

     Private service-providing..................  14.81    15.06    15.04    15.07    15.08    15.10       .1

Trade, transportation, and utilities............  14.19    14.39    14.37    14.41    14.43    14.45       .1

 Wholesale trade................................  17.13    17.40    17.40    17.42    17.39    17.37      -.1

 Retail trade...................................  11.83    11.96    11.94    11.96    11.97    11.99       .2

 Transportation and warehousing.................  16.02    16.36    16.34    16.38    16.45    16.49       .2

 Utilities......................................  24.09    24.95    24.93    25.21    25.34    25.34       .0

Information.....................................  20.74    21.32    21.28    21.22    21.19    21.06      -.6

Financial activities............................  16.56    17.33    17.25    17.23    17.18    17.19       .1

Professional and business services..............  17.09    17.24    17.24    17.28    17.32    17.33       .1

Education and health services...................  15.52    15.76    15.76    15.80    15.82    15.84       .1

Leisure and hospitality.........................   8.73     8.75     8.76     8.77     8.78     8.82       .5

Other services..................................  13.94    13.98    13.98    13.98    13.99    14.00       .1


  1 See footnote 1, table B-2.
  2 The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) is used to deflate this series.
  3 Change was 0.4 percent from Oct. 2003 to Nov. 2003, the latest month available.
  4 Derived by assuming that overtime hours are paid at the rate of time and one-half.
  N.A. = not available.
  p = preliminary.
   
 
 
 

ESTABLISHMENT DATA                                                                                               ESTABLISHMENT DATA

Table B-5.  Indexes of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory workers(1) on private nonfarm payrolls 
by industry sector and selected industry detail

(2002=100)


                                                   Not seasonally adjusted              Seasonally adjusted

                                                                                                                         Percent
                  Industry                      Dec.   Oct.   Nov.   Dec.    Dec.   Aug.   Sept.  Oct.   Nov.   Dec.   change from:
                                                2002   2003   2003p  2003p   2002   2003   2003   2003   2003p  2003p   Nov. 2003-
                                                                                                                        Dec. 2003

        Total private.........................  100.7   99.8  100.7   99.3    99.4   98.7   98.7   99.1   99.4   98.8      -0.6

    Goods-producing...........................   98.5   98.4   97.9   96.5    98.2   96.0   96.1   96.1   96.5   96.2       -.3

Natural resources and mining..................   96.7   99.2   99.2   95.8    96.7   96.2   95.5   96.7   96.9   96.0       -.9

Construction..................................   95.5  104.8  101.3   96.6    98.5   99.9   99.6   99.6   99.6   99.6        .0

Manufacturing.................................   99.9   95.4   96.3   96.6    98.2   94.1   94.6   94.7   95.0   94.6       -.4

 Durable goods................................  100.1   95.1   96.1   97.1    98.3   93.8   94.5   94.7   95.1   95.0       -.1
  Wood products...............................   97.9  100.6  101.7  100.6    98.3   97.5   97.8   99.4  101.1  100.6       -.5
  Nonmetallic mineral products................   95.1   97.4   97.3   93.7    97.0   94.9   94.1   94.9   95.4   95.5        .1
  Primary metals..............................  100.1   91.4   92.5   94.6    98.3   91.7   91.7   91.8   92.4   92.8        .4
  Fabricated metal products...................   99.9   95.6   96.7   97.4    97.6   94.2   94.5   95.1   95.5   95.1       -.4
  Machinery...................................   99.9   93.9   96.2   97.9    97.6   94.3   95.0   94.8   95.8   95.5       -.3
  Computer and electronic products............  102.2   93.9   95.1   94.4    99.3   95.4   93.9   93.4   93.3   91.9      -1.5
  Electrical equipment and appliances.........  100.6   92.0   92.8   95.4    97.8   91.6   91.3   91.7   91.7   92.5        .9
  Transportation equipment....................  100.9   96.7   97.1  100.1    98.8   92.8   95.5   95.4   95.7   96.6        .9
  Furniture and related products..............  100.2   93.5   95.1   96.8    98.9   93.2   93.8   93.8   94.5   94.8        .3
  Miscellaneous manufacturing.................  100.4   93.2   95.3   94.7    98.8   93.2   93.2   92.9   94.0   92.9      -1.2

 Nondurable goods.............................   99.3   95.7   96.3   95.3    98.2   94.4   94.6   94.7   94.7   93.9       -.8
  Food manufacturing..........................  101.2  101.6  101.2   99.4    99.2   98.5   98.8   98.8   98.1   97.7       -.4
  Beverages and tobacco products..............   90.8   87.5   86.1   82.8    91.3   85.1   85.0   84.8   86.4   83.7      -3.1
  Textile mills...............................   97.1   83.0   84.6   83.1    96.9   83.6   84.3   83.6   84.2   82.5      -2.0
  Textile product mills.......................  101.0   94.3   94.2   95.1    99.1   91.8   95.0   94.3   93.9   93.1       -.9
  Apparel.....................................   92.2   79.3   80.3   76.9    93.1   76.2   76.7   77.8   78.5   76.7      -2.3
  Leather and allied products.................   97.5   87.0   88.7   90.2    97.8   88.1   87.5   88.3   88.7   89.8       1.2
  Paper and paper products....................   99.9   93.4   94.2   95.0    97.9   92.8   92.4   93.0   93.1   92.7       -.4
  Printing and related support activities.....   98.9   97.4   97.1   96.0    97.3   95.5   95.5   96.1   95.6   94.4      -1.3
  Petroleum and coal products.................  100.5  102.2  103.3   96.2   102.2   99.5   98.8  100.0  101.7   98.0      -3.6
  Chemicals...................................  101.1   97.8   99.9  100.3    99.8   99.6   99.1   98.6   99.6   99.2       -.4
  Plastics and rubber products................   99.7   97.2   97.0   97.8    98.3   95.7   96.3   96.6   96.3   96.1       -.2

     Private service-providing................  101.5   99.9  101.3   99.8    99.9   99.5   99.6   99.7  100.0   99.4       -.6

Trade, transportation, and utilities..........  103.3   99.1  100.9  100.8    98.9   98.2   98.6   98.6   98.5   97.7       -.8

 Wholesale trade..............................   99.6   97.6   99.2   96.9    98.4   97.2   97.3   97.7   97.5   97.1       -.4

 Retail trade.................................  105.3   99.5  101.6  103.2    99.2   99.0   99.4   99.5   99.2   98.2      -1.0

 Transportation and warehousing...............  102.6   99.4  101.2   99.2    99.3   97.1   97.6   98.3   98.4   96.9      -1.5

 Utilities....................................  100.0   99.7  100.6   98.4   100.5   98.8   98.0   99.5   99.8   98.7      -1.1

Information...................................   99.2   98.7  101.3   99.6    98.0   99.2   99.1   99.6  100.2   99.8       -.4

Financial activities..........................  102.5  100.4  102.5  100.0   100.9  101.4  101.2  101.2  101.1  100.5       -.6

Professional and business services............   99.8  100.1  100.7   98.4    99.2   98.3   98.8   99.0   99.4   98.9       -.5

Education and health services.................  102.5  103.0  105.0  103.4   100.9  102.5  102.0  102.3  103.0  102.7       -.3

Leisure and hospitality.......................   97.8   98.4   97.9   95.8   100.3   98.6   99.3   99.5  100.0   99.6       -.4

Other services................................   99.3   97.4   97.8   96.7    98.9   97.8   97.8   97.6   97.6   96.9       -.7


  1 See footnote 1, table B-2.
  p = preliminary.
  NOTE:  The indexes of aggregate weekly hours are calculated by dividing the current month's estimates of aggregate hours
by the corresponding 2002 annual average levels.  Aggregate hours estimates are the product of estimates of average
weekly hours and production or nonsupervisory worker employment.
 
 
 
 

ESTABLISHMENT DATA                                                                                               ESTABLISHMENT DATA

Table B-6.  Indexes of aggregate weekly payrolls of production or nonsupervisory workers(1) on private nonfarm payrolls 
by industry sector and selected industry detail

(2002=100)


                                                   Not seasonally adjusted              Seasonally adjusted

                                                                                                                         Percent
                  Industry                      Dec.   Oct.   Nov.   Dec.    Dec.   Aug.   Sept.  Oct.   Nov.   Dec.   change from:
                                                2002   2003   2003p  2003p   2002   2003   2003   2003   2003p  2003p   Nov. 2003-
                                                                                                                        Dec. 2003

        Total private.........................  102.8  103.2  104.6  103.1   101.0  102.0  102.0  102.5  102.8  102.4      -0.4

    Goods-producing...........................  100.4  102.1  101.7  100.7    99.8   99.1   99.4   99.4  100.0   99.9       -.1

Natural resources and mining..................   97.8  102.4  102.3  100.2    97.6   98.8   98.4  100.0  100.3  100.1       -.2

Construction..................................   97.5  108.2  104.6  100.1   100.1  102.4  102.3  102.3  102.7  102.7        .0

Manufacturing.................................  102.3   98.6   99.9  101.2    99.8   97.2   97.9   98.0   98.5   98.3       -.2

 Durable goods................................  102.5   98.2   99.4  101.4    99.9   96.5   97.6   97.7   98.1   98.5        .4

 Nondurable goods.............................  101.6   99.2  100.6  100.2    99.9   98.0   98.4   98.5   99.0   98.2       -.8

     Private service-providing................  103.7  103.2  105.4  103.6   101.5  102.9  102.9  103.2  103.6  103.1       -.5

Trade, transportation, and utilities..........  104.0  101.8  103.9  103.2   100.2  100.8  101.1  101.4  101.4  100.7       -.7

 Wholesale trade..............................  101.1  100.1  102.2   99.2    99.4   99.7   99.8  100.3  100.0   99.4       -.6

 Retail trade.................................  106.1  101.7  103.8  105.4   100.6  101.5  101.7  101.9  101.7  100.9       -.8

 Transportation and warehousing...............  104.3  103.1  106.0  103.9   100.9  100.7  101.1  102.0  102.6  101.3      -1.3

 Utilities....................................  101.4  105.0  106.9  104.8   101.1  102.9  102.1  104.8  105.7  104.5      -1.1

Information...................................  102.5  104.2  107.0  104.3   100.5  104.5  104.3  104.4  105.0  103.9      -1.0

Financial activities..........................  105.5  107.0  109.4  105.9   103.4  108.7  108.0  107.9  107.4  106.8       -.6

Professional and business services............  102.5  102.2  104.5  101.6   100.9  100.8  101.3  101.8  102.4  101.9       -.5

Education and health services.................  104.7  107.1  109.2  108.0   102.9  106.2  105.7  106.2  107.1  107.0       -.1

Leisure and hospitality.......................  100.5  100.7  100.5   99.7   102.2  100.6  101.5  101.8  102.4  102.5        .1

Other services................................  101.4   99.0   99.8   99.0   100.4   99.7   99.6   99.4   99.5   98.9       -.6


  1 See footnote 1, table B-2.
  p = preliminary.
  NOTE:  The indexes of aggregate weekly payrolls are calculated by dividing the current month's estimates of aggregate
payrolls by the corresponding 2002 annual average levels.  Aggregate payroll estimates are the product of estimates of
average hourly earnings, average weekly hours, and production or nonsupervisory worker employment.
 
 
 
 

ESTABLISHMENT DATA                                                                                              ESTABLISHMENT DATA

Table B-7.  Diffusion indexes of employment change, seasonally adjusted

(Percent)


       Time span           Jan.     Feb.     Mar.     Apr.      May     June     July     Aug.    Sept.     Oct.     Nov.     Dec.

                                                        Private nonfarm payrolls, 278 industries(1)


Over 1-month span:
     1999 ..............   56.3     64.7     56.7     65.8     64.2     61.9     63.3     59.9     57.6     64.4     69.1     64.4
     2000 ..............   65.5     60.3     65.5     58.8     47.7     61.7     65.5     52.9     52.3     54.1     57.7     53.2
     2001 ..............   52.3     49.6     48.6     36.5     41.4     38.1     35.6     38.5     39.0     35.6     37.8     36.0
     2002 ..............   40.5     37.4     37.6     41.0     41.7     43.7     39.0     41.7     43.3     43.9     42.4     37.2
     2003 ..............   44.2     36.7     44.1     46.9     43.3     37.2     43.2     40.8     50.0     50.0    p54.3    p50.4


Over 3-month span:
     1999 ..............   61.5     64.9     61.0     65.8     66.4     69.1     66.9     64.4     62.2     62.9     66.7     69.6
     2000 ..............   70.1     66.0     68.3     68.3     58.5     56.3     58.1     62.2     55.9     53.1     54.0     58.3
     2001 ..............   54.9     50.7     50.5     43.5     37.2     36.0     36.2     35.8     34.5     32.2     31.7     30.9
     2002 ..............   34.4     38.3     36.5     35.4     36.7     38.8     39.7     41.4     38.1     39.0     37.8     34.9
     2003 ..............   36.0     35.6     36.0     41.2     43.0     40.6     37.6     34.5     43.5     46.6    p50.5    p49.8


Over 6-month span:
     1999 ..............   66.9     64.9     63.7     64.0     65.6     65.8     66.7     66.2     69.4     68.7     66.4     66.5
     2000 ..............   67.6     68.7     71.4     71.9     68.5     66.2     67.3     60.4     58.3     55.0     61.0     55.2
     2001 ..............   53.2     51.4     50.7     47.1     42.8     38.8     37.6     34.5     31.1     32.9     31.3     31.7
     2002 ..............   30.6     29.9     31.1     31.3     33.3     35.8     36.9     37.4     37.8     39.9     38.3     35.8
     2003 ..............   37.4     36.5     35.1     34.7     37.4     36.5     38.7     35.1     40.8     38.8    p42.6    p44.8


Over 12-month span:
     1999 ..............   70.5     68.7     68.2     68.0     68.3     68.3     68.0     68.0     67.8     69.1     68.3     69.1
     2000 ..............   70.9     69.2     73.2     71.0     69.8     71.0     70.0     70.3     70.3     65.6     63.8     62.1
     2001 ..............   59.5     59.5     53.4     49.3     48.6     45.0     43.3     43.9     39.9     37.8     37.1     34.9
     2002 ..............   33.6     31.7     30.2     30.2     30.4     30.6     30.8     31.8     31.5     30.0     33.5     33.3
     2003 ..............   33.8     33.3     34.5     35.4     36.5     35.4     35.8     33.6     38.1     37.4    p34.9    p38.5

                                                        Manufacturing payrolls, 84 industries(1)


Over 1-month span:
     1999 ..............   42.3     38.7     33.3     39.3     52.4     34.5     50.0     40.5     41.7     50.6     56.0     51.8
     2000 ..............   50.6     53.6     54.8     42.9     39.9     53.6     62.5     28.6     24.4     35.1     41.1     38.7
     2001 ..............   24.4     22.0     24.4     14.3     14.3     19.6     14.3     13.7     17.9     16.7     16.7      9.5
     2002 ..............   19.0     22.6     20.8     33.9     30.4     32.1     34.5     25.0     31.0     19.6     21.4     25.0
     2003 ..............   36.3     19.0     27.4     20.2     30.4     25.6     31.5     25.6     33.3     32.7    p42.9    p38.1


Over 3-month span:
     1999 ..............   33.9     40.5     37.5     35.7     41.7     43.5     42.3     38.1     41.1     44.6     49.4     56.5
     2000 ..............   54.2     54.8     58.3     51.8     41.7     41.1     54.8     48.2     29.2     25.6     25.0     42.3
     2001 ..............   34.5     24.4     17.9     14.3     11.9     14.3     10.7      7.7      8.3      9.5      8.9      8.3
     2002 ..............   11.9     11.9     16.7     20.2     21.4     20.2     28.6     25.6     25.6     17.9     14.9     10.7
     2003 ..............   14.9     15.5     19.6     16.7     17.9     14.3     20.2     18.5     24.4     25.6    p31.0    p35.1


Over 6-month span:
     1999 ..............   37.5     32.7     30.4     33.3     36.9     38.1     38.1     34.5     40.5     46.4     41.1     48.2
     2000 ..............   47.0     51.2     56.5     57.1     49.4     47.6     56.0     44.0     36.9     35.1     34.5     31.0
     2001 ..............   23.8     24.4     20.8     17.9     14.9     11.9     13.7      9.5      8.3      6.5      6.5      6.0
     2002 ..............    7.7      8.9      7.7      8.9     12.5     16.7     19.6     19.6     23.8     17.9     16.7     13.7
     2003 ..............   13.7     14.3     12.5     11.9     12.5     15.5     13.1     13.7     16.1     16.7    p19.6    p24.4


Over 12-month span:
     1999 ..............   35.7     32.1     29.8     32.1     32.7     32.1     34.5     32.1     33.3     39.3     41.1     42.9
     2000 ..............   41.7     39.3     47.0     50.0     46.4     52.4     51.8     49.4     46.4     40.5     35.1     33.3
     2001 ..............   29.8     32.1     20.8     19.0     13.1     12.5     10.7     11.9     11.9     10.1      8.3      6.0
     2002 ..............    7.1      6.0      6.0      7.1      7.7      5.4      6.0      8.9      7.7      9.5     13.1     13.1
     2003 ..............   13.7     15.5     16.7     13.1     15.5     16.1     13.1     14.3     12.5     13.1    p11.9    p14.3


  1 Based on seasonally adjusted data for 1-, 3-, 6-month spans and unadjusted data for the 12-month span.
  p = preliminary.
  NOTE:  Figures are the percent of industries with employment increasing plus one-half of the industries with
unchanged employment, where 50 percent indicates an equal balance between industries with increasing and decreasing
employment.