Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 
8:30 a.m. (ET) Friday, October 8, 2021.


                            Statement of

                          William W. Beach
                            Commissioner
                     Bureau of Labor Statistics

                      Friday, October 8, 2021





      Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 194,000 in September, 
and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.8 
percent. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, 
in professional and business services, in retail trade, and in 
transportation and warehousing. Employment declined in public 
education over the month. 
      
      Thus far this year, monthly job growth has averaged 
561,000. Employment has increased by 17.4 million since April 
2020 but is down by 5.0 million, or 3.3 percent, from its level 
before the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 
February 2020.
      
      Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 74,000 in 
September, after changing little in August. Arts, entertainment, 
and recreation added 43,000 jobs in September. Employment in 
food services and drinking places changed little for the second 
consecutive month, following an average monthly gain of 197,000 
from January through July. Employment in leisure and hospitality 
is 1.6 million, or 9.4 percent, lower than in February 2020.
      
      In September, employment in professional and business 
services rose by 60,000. Within the industry, employment in the 
professional and technical component rose by 56,000 over the 
month and is 244,000 higher than in February 2020. (Professional 
and technical services includes industries such as architectural 
and engineering services, management and technical consulting 
services, and computer systems design and related services.) By 
contrast, employment in the administrative and waste services 
component (which includes temporary help services) changed 
little over the month (+2,000) but is 543,000 lower than in 
February 2020. Employment in the management of companies and 
enterprises component was also little changed over the month 
(+3,000) but is down by 86,000 since February 2020. Employment 
in professional and business services overall is down by 385,000 
since February 2020. 
      
      Employment in retail trade rose by 56,000 over the month, 
after changing little in the prior 2 months. In September, job 
gains occurred in clothing and accessories stores (+27,000), 
general merchandise stores (+16,000), and building material and 
garden supply stores (+16,000), while food and beverage stores 
continued to lose jobs (-12,000). Since February 2020, 
employment in retail trade is down by 202,000.
      
      Transportation and warehousing added 47,000 jobs in 
September. Employment in the industry is 72,000 above its 
February 2020 level. In September, employment growth continued 
in warehousing and storage (+16,000), couriers and messengers 
(+13,000), and air transportation (+10,000). 
      
      Employment in information rose by 32,000 in September, with 
job gains in motion picture and sound recording (+14,000); in 
publishing industries, except Internet (+11,000); and in data 
processing, hosting, and related services (+6,000). Employment 
in information is 108,000 lower than in February 2020.
      
      In September, employment in social assistance increased by 
30,000, with much of the gain occurring in child day care 
services (+18,000). Since February 2020, employment in social 
assistance is down by 204,000. 
      
      Manufacturing added 26,000 jobs in September, with gains in 
fabricated metal products (+8,000), machinery (+6,000), and 
printing and related support activities (+4,000). Motor vehicles 
and parts lost 6,000 jobs over the month. Since February 2020, 
employment in manufacturing is down by 353,000.
      
      In September, construction added 22,000 jobs. Employment in 
the industry has changed little, on net, thus far this year and 
is 201,000 lower than in February 2020.
      
      Employment in wholesale trade increased by 17,000 in 
September, with nearly all of the gain in the durable goods 
component. Wholesale trade employment is 159,000 lower than in 
February 2020. 
      
      Mining employment continued to trend up in September 
(+5,000), reflecting growth in support activities for mining 
(+4,000). Mining has added 59,000 jobs since a trough in August 
2020, but employment is 93,000 lower than a peak in January 
2019.
      
      In September, employment decreased by 144,000 in local 
government education and by 17,000 in state government 
education. Employment changed little in private education 
(-19,000). Most back-to-school hiring typically occurs in 
September. Hiring this September was lower than usual, resulting 
in a decline after seasonal adjustment. Recent employment 
changes are challenging to interpret, as pandemic-related 
staffing fluctuations in public and private education have 
distorted the normal seasonal hiring and layoff patterns. Since 
February 2020, employment is down by 310,000 in local government 
education, by 194,000 in state government education, and by 
172,000 in private education.
      
      In September, employment changed little in health care 
(-18,000). A job gain in ambulatory health care services 
(+28,000) was more than offset by job losses in nursing and 
residential care facilities (-38,000) and hospitals (-8,000). 
Health care employment is 524,000 lower than in February 2020, 
mostly due to declines in nursing and residential care 
facilities.
      
      Employment in financial activities and in other services 
showed little change over the month.
      
      In September, the average workweek for all private-sector 
workers rose by 0.2 hour to 34.8 hours. The average workweek for 
manufacturing was unchanged at 40.4 hours.
      
      Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 
payrolls increased by 19 cents to $30.85 in September, following 
large increases in the prior 5 months. The data for recent 
months suggest that rising demand for labor associated with the 
recovery from the pandemic may have put upward pressure on 
wages. However, because average hourly earnings vary widely 
across industries, the large employment fluctuations since 
February 2020 complicate the analysis of trends in average 
hourly earnings.
      
      Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 
survey, the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 
4.8 percent in September. The number of unemployed people fell 
by 710,000 to 7.7 million. These measures are down from their 
April 2020 peaks but remain above their February 2020 levels 
(3.5 percent and 5.7 million, respectively).
      
      Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates 
decreased in September for adult men (4.7 percent), adult women 
(4.2 percent), Whites (4.2 percent), and Blacks (7.9 percent). 
The jobless rates for teenagers (11.5 percent), Asians (4.2 
percent), and Hispanics (6.3 percent) showed little change over 
the month.
      
      Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers 
declined by 236,000 to 2.3 million in September but is 953,000 
higher than in February 2020. The number of people on temporary 
layoff, at 1.1 million, changed little in September. This 
measure is down considerably from a high of 18.0 million in 
April 2020 but is 374,000 higher than in February 2020. The 
number of reentrants to the labor force decreased by 198,000 to 
2.3 million in September, after increasing by a similar amount 
in August.
      
      The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more (often 
referred to as the long-term unemployed) continued to decrease, 
falling by 496,000 to 2.7 million in September. This measure is 
up by 1.6 million since February 2020. In September, the long-
term unemployed accounted for 34.5 percent of the total 
unemployed. The number of people unemployed for less than 5 
weeks, at 2.2 million, was little changed.
      
      The labor force participation rate, at 61.6 percent, 
changed little in September and has remained within a narrow 
range of 61.4 percent to 61.7 percent since June 2020. This 
measure is 1.7 percentage points lower than in February 2020. 
The employment-population ratio edged up to 58.7 percent in 
September but is 2.4 percentage points lower than in February 
2020.
      
      In September, 4.5 million people were working part time for 
economic reasons, essentially unchanged for the second month in 
a row. The number of people working part time for economic 
reasons is down from a peak of 10.9 million in April 2020. There 
were 4.4 million people affected by this type of underemployment 
in February 2020.
      
      The number of people not in the labor force who currently 
want a job was little changed at 6.0 million in September. This 
measure is down from a peak of 9.9 million in April 2020 but 
remains higher than the February 2020 level (5.0 million). Among 
those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of 
people marginally attached to the labor force edged up by 
167,000 to 1.7 million in September, following a decline in the 
prior month. (People who are marginally attached to the labor 
force had not actively looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to 
the survey but wanted a job, were available for work, and had 
looked for a job within the last 12 months.) The number of 
discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who 
believed that no jobs were available for them, was little 
changed in September at 450,000.
      
      As in previous months, some workers affected by the 
pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 
temporary layoff in September were instead misclassified as 
employed but not at work. Since March 2020, BLS has published an 
estimate of what the unemployment rate would have been had 
misclassified workers been included among the unemployed. 
Repeating this same approach, the seasonally adjusted September 
unemployment rate would have been 0.1 percentage point higher 
than reported. Additional information about the 
misclassification, as well as information about response rates 
for both the household and establishment surveys, is available 
on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-
covid19-faq-september-2021.htm.
      
      Looking at supplemental pandemic-related measures from the 
household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 
adjusted), the share of employed people who teleworked in 
September because of the coronavirus pandemic was 13.2 percent, 
little changed from August. These data refer only to employed 
people who teleworked or worked from home for pay at some point 
in the last 4 weeks specifically because of the pandemic; they 
do not include all instances of telework.
      
      In September, the number of people who reported that they 
had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost 
business due to the pandemic--that is, they did not work at all 
or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to 
the pandemic--decreased by 615,000 to 5.0 million. Among those 
who reported in September that they were unable to work because 
of pandemic-related closures or lost business, 15.5 percent 
received at least some pay from their employer for the hours not 
worked, little changed over the month.  
      
      Among those not in the labor force in September, 1.6 
million people were prevented from looking for work due to the 
pandemic, little changed from August. (To be counted as 
unemployed, by definition, individuals must either be actively 
searching for work or on temporary layoff.)
      
      In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 194,000 in 
September, and the unemployment rate declined to 4.8 percent.