Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press 

under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that 

the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Statement of 

Erica L. Groshen

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, November 4, 2016

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 161,000 in October, 

and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.9 percent. 

Employment continued to trend up in health care, professional 

and business services, and financial activities. Thus far this 

year, nonfarm job growth has averaged 181,000 per month, 

compared with an average gain of 229,000 per month in 2015. 

Incorporating revisions for August and September, which 

increased nonfarm payroll employment by 44,000, monthly job 

gains have averaged 176,000 over the past 3 months. 

In October, health care employment rose by 31,000, with 

gains in ambulatory health care services (+19,000) and hospitals 

(+13,000). Over the year, health care has added 415,000 jobs.

Employment in professional and business services continued 

to trend up over the month (+43,000) and has expanded by 542,000 

over the year. Within the industry, computer systems design and 

related services added 8,000 jobs in October. Employment in 
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management and technical consulting services continued on an 

upward trend (+5,000). 

Employment in financial activities also continued to trend 

up in October (+14,000). Insurance carriers and related 

activities added 8,000 jobs. Over the year, financial activities 

employment has grown by 172,000. 

Employment in other major industries--mining, construction, 

manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and 

warehousing, information, leisure and hospitality, and 

government--changed little over the month. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls grew by 10 cents in October to $25.92, following an 

8-cent increase in September. Over the past 12 months, average 

hourly earnings have risen by 2.8 percent. From September 2015 

to September 2016, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 

Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.5 percent (on a seasonally 

adjusted basis). 

Turning to data from the survey of households, both the 

unemployment rate, at 4.9 percent, and the number of unemployed 

people, at 7.8 million, changed little over the month and have

shown little net movement since August 2015. Among the 

unemployed in October, 2.0 million, or 25.2 percent, had been 

searching for work for 27 weeks or more.
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The labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, and 

the employment-population ratio, at 59.7 percent, changed little 

over the month. These measures have shown little movement in 

recent months, although both are up over the year. 

Among people employed in October, the number working part 

time for economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary parttime workers, was 5.9 million. This measure has shown little net 

change over the past year.

Among people who were neither working nor looking for work, 

1.7 million were marginally attached to the labor force in 

October, down from 1.9 million a year earlier. Discouraged 

workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that 

no jobs were available for them, numbered 487,000 in October, 

also down from a year earlier. (Marginally attached to the labor 

force refers to people who had not looked for work in the 4 

weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, were available to 

work, and had looked for a job within the last 12 months.) 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 161,000

in October, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.9 

percent.