FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.S.T.
                            FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2001

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
                              
                    Katharine G. Abraham
                        Commissioner
                 Bureau of Labor Statistics
                              
                         before the
                              
                  Joint Economic Committee
                              
                   UNITED STATES CONGRESS
                              
                    Friday, March 9, 2001
                              

                              
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

     I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the labor
market data we released this morning.
     
     The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent in
February, and payroll employment rose by 135,000.  Since
early last fall, the growth in payroll employment has
slackened.  In the 5 months since September, the average
monthly increase in payroll employment has been 103,000.  In
contrast, during the first 9 months of last year, payroll
employment had grown by 187,000 a month, on average.  The key
features of the February data, in my view, are the continued
reduction in manufacturing employment and hours, the more-
than-offsetting job gains in services and some other
industries, and the over-the-month rise in average hourly
earnings.
     
     Manufacturing employment fell by 94,000 in February.
This follows a decline of about the same amount in January
and brings total factory job losses since last June to
371,000.  The decline in February was widespread throughout
manufacturing.  Even the electronic components industry had a
small job loss over the month; employment in this industry
has been on an upward trend since the spring of 1999.  The
only manufacturing industry with a sizable over-the-month
increase was motor vehicles, but that gain (13,000) was only
a fraction of the loss that occurred in January (48,000).  On
net, auto industry employment has fallen by 77,000 since
June.
     
     Both manufacturing hours and overtime also continued on
downward trends in February.  Since June, the average factory
workweek has declined by a full hour, and overtime has fallen
by 0.8 hour.  The factory workweek is now at its lowest level
since the spring of 1991, except for 2 months when winter
storms caused sharp, temporary reductions in hours.
     
     Weakness in manufacturing may have affected some other
industries.  For example, wholesale trade--an intermediary
between manufacturers and customers--has lost 22,000 jobs
since November.  This is the largest such decline in the
industry since early 1993.  Employment in help supply
services, which is dominated by temporary help firms that
provide workers to manufacturing as well as other industries,
was little changed in February but has fallen by 200,000
since April.  Help supply had experienced dramatic job growth
during most of the economic expansion that began in the
spring of 1991.
     
     Employment in the services industry as a whole rose by
95,000 in February.  Health services had the largest job
increase among the services industries, as employment in
hospitals continued to benefit from recent changes in
Medicare payment schedules.  Employment also rose in social
services, computer services, and private education. Public
education accounted for a large share of the rise in
government jobs over the month.
     
     Retail trade employment rose by 37,000 in February,
after seasonal adjustment, following 2 months of very small
gains.  Mortgage banking continued to add jobs due to high
levels of refinancing activity.  Following a very large gain
in January, construction added 16,000 jobs in February.
Since October, employment in the industry has increased by
37,000 a month, on average.  In the 12 months prior to
October, the average monthly increase was only 23,000.
     
     Average hourly earnings were up 7 cents in February; the
over-the-year increase was 4.1 percent.  This was the fourth
month in a row that the over-the-year increase was 4 percent
or above.  Throughout most of 1999 and 2000, the over-the-
year gains had remained in the 3.5- to 3.8-percent range.
     
     As I mentioned at the beginning of my statement, the
unemployment rate was unchanged in February at 4.2 percent.
The jobless rate for blacks, which had risen in January,
returned to its fourth-quarter level of 7.5 percent.  In
February, the number of newly unemployed (those unemployed
less than 5 weeks) and the number of unemployed job losers
who were not on temporary layoff both rose for the second
month in a row.  Other cyclical indicators from our survey of
households, such as the number of people working part time
despite their preference for full-time work and the number of
people outside the labor force who have stopped looking for
work, have shown no clear sign of an upward trend.
     
     In summary, the sharp downturn in manufacturing
employment and hours continued in February.  Still, overall
payroll employment continued to rise, and the unemployment
rate remained relatively low.  Finally, earnings gains appear
to have picked up in recent months.
     
     
     
     My colleagues and I would be glad to answer your
questions.