Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up
conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until
8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
                                  Statement of
                                        
                               Kathleen P. Utgoff
                                  Commissioner
                           Bureau of Labor Statistics
                                        
                            Friday, November 1, 2002
                                        
                                        
   Overall, labor market conditions were little changed in October.  The
unemployment rate was 5.7 percent, essentially the same as in September, and
nonfarm payroll employment held at 130.9 million.  The unemployment rate has
shown no clear trend since this past spring, and payroll employment appears to
have leveled off in recent months following a period of modest growth from May
through August.

   Although topside payroll employment held steady in October (-5,000), there
were offsetting movements among various industries.  Employment in manufacturing
continued to trend down as the nation's factories shed 49,000 jobs. The rate of
job loss in manufacturing has been higher over the past 3 months than it had
been from April to July.  In October, job losses were concentrated in durable
goods production, with the largest decline occurring in electrical equipment.
The manufacturing workweek fell by 0.2 hour to 40.7 hours in October, while
factory overtime remained at 4.1 hours.

   Employment in construction declined by 27,000 in October, reflecting job
losses among special trade contractors.  Although there have been some monthly
fluctuations, construction employment has hovered close to 6.5 million since the
spring of this year, after a relatively modest decline that followed the onset
of the recent recession.

   Help supply services, which supplies temporary personnel on a contractual
basis, lost 56,000 jobs in October.  That industry had generally been on an
upward trend since early this year.  It is possible that some of October's
decline reflects recent weakness in manufacturing.

   On the positive side, several notable employment gains were scattered within
the service-producing sector of the economy in October.  There was especially
strong growth in mortgage banking (+17,000).  Almost 100,000 jobs have been
added in the industry since the beginning of 2001, reflecting robust home sales
and high levels of refinancing activity spurred by low interest rates.  Simi-
larly, employment in real estate has been partly buoyed by strong housing
sales and was up by 11,000 in October.  In services, job gains continued in
health services (+20,000).  In government, Federal employment was up for the
fifth month in a row, largely because of hiring in the Transportation Security
Administration, and employment in local government continued its upward trend.

   Employment in the transportation industry was essentially unchanged over the
month.  Workers involved in the labor dispute at West Coast ports had returned
to work as of the October survey reference period.  Thus, the dispute had no
direct impact on the employment estimates for this industry.

   Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers in the
private sector rose by 3 cents to $14.89 in October.  Over the year, hourly
earnings increased by 3.0 percent.

   Data from our survey of households also pointed to little change in the
overall job market in October.  Both the number of unemployed persons, at 8.2
million, and the unemployment rate, at 5.7 percent, were about the same as in
September.  The unemployment rate for adult women edged up in October, but
jobless rates for other major worker groups--adult men, teenagers, whites,
blacks, and Hispanics--showed little or no change.  About 1.7 million unemployed
persons had been jobless for 27 weeks or more in October, and some 4.3 million
employed persons were working part time even though they would have preferred a
full-time schedule.  Both of these measures have shown little definitive change
in recent months.

   In summary, overall payroll employment was little changed in October for the
second month in a row.  Job declines in manufacturing have increased recently;
however, growth continued in health services and mortgage banking.  The unem-
ployment rate was 5.7 percent, essentially the same as in September.