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

Keith Hall

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

before the

Joint Economic Committee

UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Friday, April 4, 2008

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the March labor 

market data we released this morning.

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in 

March, and the unemployment rate rose from 4.8 to 5.1 percent. 

Payroll employment edged down by 80,000 over the month, bringing 

the decline over the last 3 months to 232,000. To put these 

recent changes into context, I would note that labor market 

conditions started to weaken more than a year ago. Average 

monthly job growth slowed from 175,000 in 2006 to 107,000 in the 

first half of 2007, to 76,000 in the last half of 2007, and to 

-77,000 for the first quarter of this year. The unemployment 

rate remained at or near 4.5 percent during the first half of 
2

2007 but rose to 4.7 percent in the third quarter, 4.8 percent 

in the fourth quarter, and 4.9 percent in the first quarter of 

this year.

Returning to the payroll employment figures for March, job 

losses occurred in construction, manufacturing, and employment 

services. Job growth continued in health care, food services, 

and mining.

The construction industry lost 51,000 jobs over the month, 

with declines concentrated in residential and nonresidential 

specialty trade contracting. Since its peak in September 2006, 

construction employment has fallen by 394,000. 

Manufacturing employment decreased by 48,000 in March. 

Motor vehicle manufacturing employment was down by 24,000; this

decline largely reflected the impact of a strike at an 

automotive parts maker. The resulting parts shortage triggered 

plant shutdowns and idled workers at non-striking motor vehicle 

factories. Elsewhere in manufacturing, there were job declines 

in several construction-related industries--wood products, 

furniture, and nonmetallic minerals. Both manufacturing hours 

and overtime were up by one-tenth of an hour. 

In the service-providing sector, employment services shed 

42,000 jobs in March. This industry group includes temporary 

help services. Over the past 12 months, employment services has 

lost 158,000 jobs, three-fourths of which were in temporary 
3

help. Professional and technical services employment was little 

changed for the third consecutive month, compared with average

monthly job gains of 27,000 in 2007.

Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, employment 

growth continued in health care and in food services; each

industry added 23,000 jobs in March. In the goods-producing 

sector, mining employment rose by 6,000 due to gains in oil and 

gas extraction and related support activities. 

Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private sector rose by 5 cents in March and have 

increased by 3.6 percent over the past 12 months. From February 

2007 to February 2008, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage 

Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose by 4.5 percent.

Turning to labor market data from the survey of households, 

the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate both rose 

over the month. The jobless rate was 5.1 percent in March, up 

from 4.8 percent in February and from 4.4 percent in March of 

last year. Over the month, the number of unemployed persons 

grew by 434,000 to 7.8 million. The number of unemployed 

persons who were job losers continued to trend up. Job losers 

represented 54 percent of all unemployed persons in March, up 

from 48 percent 12 months earlier. (Other groups of unemployed 

persons include those entering the labor market for the first 

time, those re-entering after an absence, and those who 
4

voluntarily leave jobs.) About 1.3 million unemployed 

individuals had been searching for work for 27 weeks or more,

little changed from a year earlier. 

The number of persons in the labor force increased in 

March, reversing a decline in the prior month. The labor force 

participation rate has been at or near 66.0 percent since last 

spring. In March, 62.6 percent of the population was employed, 

down from a recent peak of 63.4 percent at the end of 2006. The 

number of persons working part time who prefer full-time 

employment showed little change over the month but has risen by 

629,000 over the past 12 months.

In summary, payroll employment continued to trend down in 

March, and job losses have totaled 232,000 for the first 3 

months of the year. The unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent.

My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your 

questions.