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 

Keith Hall 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, January 8, 2010

Nonfarm payroll employment edged down in December 

(-85,000), and the unemployment rate held at 10.0 percent. In 

2009, payroll employment declined by 4.2 million. Over the 

course of the year, job losses moderated substantially. In the 

first quarter of 2009, job declines averaged 691,000 per month, 

compared with 69,000 per month in the last quarter. In 

December, job losses continued in construction, manufacturing, 

and wholesale trade, while employment continued to rise in 

temporary help services and health care. 

Over the month, construction employment fell by 53,000, in 

line with average monthly job losses since May 2009. Over the 

year, the industry shed 934,000 jobs. Nonresidential and heavy 

construction accounted for the majority of the loss in 2009. In 

contrast, residential construction accounted for the majority of 

the loss in 2008. 
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The manufacturing sector continued to contract in December 

(-27,000), although average monthly job losses in the second 

half of 2009 were about one-fourth as large as those in the 

first half of the year. In December, the factory workweek was 

unchanged at 40.4 hours, remaining a full hour above its recent 

low in May. 

Wholesale trade employment declined by 18,000 in December, 

bringing the total job loss in the industry to 232,000 for 2009. 

In retail trade, employment in general merchandise stores fell 

by 15,000 over the month. 

Temporary help services continued to add jobs in December 

(47,000). Since a recent low point in July 2009, employment in 

the industry has risen by 166,000. Health care employment also 

continued to expand over the month, with gains in doctors' 

offices and in home health care services. 

Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private sector rose by 3 cents in December to 

$18.80. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have 

risen by 2.2 percent. From November 2008 to November 2009, the 

Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers 

(CPI-W) increased by 2.3 percent. 

Turning to the measures from our survey of households, the 

unemployment rate held at 10.0 percent in December, and the 

number of unemployed persons was unchanged at 15.3 million. A 
3 

year earlier the jobless rate was 7.4 percent. Among the 

unemployed, 39.8 percent had been jobless for 27 weeks or more 

in December, up from 22.9 percent a year earlier. 

The employment-population ratio, at 58.2 percent in 

December, declined by 0.3 percentage point over the month and by 

2.7 percentage points over the year. The number of discouraged 

workers rose over the year by 287,000, to 929,000 in December 

(not seasonally adjusted). Discouraged workers are persons 

outside the labor force who are not looking for work because 

they believe their job search efforts would be unsuccessful. 

The number of persons working part time who would have 

preferred full-time employment was about unchanged in December 

at 9.2 million. During the first quarter of 2009, the measure 

rose by more than 900,000, but it has been relatively flat since 

March. 

Data users are reminded that seasonal adjustment factors 

for the household survey are updated each year with the release 

of the December data. Seasonally adjusted estimates going back 

5 years--to January 2005--were subject to revision. 

In addition, BLS will introduce several changes to the 

Employment Situation news release text and tables with the 

release of January 2010 data on February 5, 2010. Information 

about those changes is available on the BLS Web site 

(www.bls.gov/bls/upcoming_empsit_changes.htm). 
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To summarize December's labor market data, nonfarm payroll 

employment edged down (-85,000), and the unemployment rate was 

unchanged at 10.0 percent. In 2009, payroll employment declined 

by 4.2 million, and the Nation's jobless rate increased by 2.6 

percentage points.