FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.D.T.
                         FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2003

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
                              
                     Kathleen P. Utgoff
                        Commissioner
                 Bureau of Labor Statistics
                              
                         before the
                  Joint Economic Committee
                   UNITED STATES CONGRESS
                              
                  Friday, September 5, 2003
                              


Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

     I am pleased to have this opportunity to comment on the
employment and unemployment data we released this morning.

     The unemployment rate, at 6.1 percent, was essentially
unchanged in August.  Nonfarm employment declined by 93,000
over the month.  Manufacturers again made substantial job
cuts, and employment in several other industries continued
to trend down.  On the positive side, employment continued
to trend up in health care and construction.

     Manufacturing employment fell by 44,000 in August.  Job
losses continued to be pervasive, with some of the more
notable over-the-month declines occurring in textiles and
apparel, wood products, and electrical equipment.  In the
past 3 years, some 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been
lost, including a decline of 431,000 this year.  In August,
the factory workweek was unchanged at 40.1 hours.

     Within the information sector, the telecommunications
industry continued to shed jobs.  Employment in this
industry has declined by 212,000 from its peak of 1.3
million in March 2001.  Other sectors in which employment
continued to trend down over the month were wholesale trade
and transportation and warehousing.

     Offsetting some of these losses, employment in the
health care industry resumed growth, after showing little
change in July.  Health care has added over a quarter of a
million jobs in the past 12 months.

     Construction sector employment was up by 19,000 in
August and has increased by 122,000 over the past 6 months.
Temporary help employment continued to trend up, although
the increases in July and August were notably smaller than
the gains in May and June.

     Average hourly earnings increased by 2 cents in August,
following a 5-cent increase in July.  Over the year, hourly
earnings have risen by 2.9 percent.

     Turning to data from our household survey, the number
of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate were
essentially unchanged over the month.  The long-term
unemployed continued to make up a little more than one-fifth
of the jobless.
     
     The civilian labor force was little changed over the
month.  Over the year, the number of persons marginally
attached to the labor force was up.  The subset of these
persons who cited discouragement over job prospects as their
reason for not searching for work also rose over the year.
In August, they numbered half a million.
     
     As a side note, I would point out that the blackout
which affected parts of the Northeast and Midwest beginning
August 14 occurred during the survey periods for both our
payroll and household surveys.  While this event caused
significant disruptions to economic activities, it is
unlikely to have had any effect on the employment estimates
from either survey.  In the establishment survey, persons
paid for any part of the pay period that included the 12th
were considered employed.  In the household survey, persons
who worked any part of that week as well as those who were
prevented from working because of the blackout were
considered employed.

     Business closings resulting from the blackout reduced
the number of hours people worked.  However, some people
received pay for the hours not worked, and the payroll
survey measures hours paid, rather than hours actually
worked.  In addition, the blackout required some workers to
put in extra hours, and other workers made up the time they
lost.  Thus, while the net effect from the blackout on
payroll hours estimates cannot be quantified, it is likely
to have been small.  In fact, the measure of average weekly
hours was unchanged over the month.

     Before closing, I would like to comment on employment
trends as measured by the payroll and household surveys, an
issue that has been receiving some attention recently.
Since November 2001, the NBER-designated trough of the most
recent business cycle, payroll employment has fallen while
nonagricultural wage and salary employment from the
household survey has been essentially flat.  Some observers
have speculated that the household survey provides a better
indication of the trend in employment at and around turning
points in the business cycle.  It is our judgment that the
payroll survey provides more reliable information on the
current trend in wage and salary employment.  The payroll
survey has a larger sample than the household survey--
400,000 business establishments covering about one-third of
total nonfarm payroll employment.  Moreover, the payroll
survey estimates are regularly anchored to the comprehensive
count of nonfarm payroll employment derived from the
unemployment insurance tax records.
     
     To summarize the August data released today, payroll
employment declined over the month, and the unemployment
rate, at 6.1 percent, was about unchanged.
     
     My colleagues and I would be glad to answer any
questions you might have.