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
                                
                    Friday, November 5, 2010

     Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in October.  The
unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent and has been
essentially unchanged since May.  Since December 2009, nonfarm
payroll employment has risen by 874,000, and private-sector
employment has increased by 1.1 million.
     
     Within the service-providing sector, temporary help services
added 35,000 jobs over the month, bringing total job gains since
September 2009 to 451,000.  Employment in computer systems design
and related services rose by 8,000 in October; this industry has
added 53,000 jobs since June 2009.  Health care employment
continued to increase (+24,000) in October, with gains throughout
the industry.
     
     Within leisure and hospitality, job losses in arts,
entertainment, and recreation (-26,000) offset gains in food
services and drinking places (+24,000).  So far this year,
employment in food services has risen by 143,000.  Retail trade
employment rose in October (+28,000), with gains occurring among
automobile dealers (+6,000) and electronics and appliance stores
(+5,000).
     
     Within the goods-producing sector, employment in mining
continued to expand (+8,000), reflecting ongoing gains in support
activities for mining.  Mining has added 88,000 jobs over the
last 12 months.  Employment in most other major private-sector
industries was little changed in October.
     
     Government employment overall was about unchanged. However,
employment in local government, excluding education, decreased by
14,000 over the month and has fallen by 123,000 over the last 12
months.  The number of temporary decennial census workers fell by
5,000 in October; only about 1,000 remained on Federal payrolls.
     
     Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls were up by 5 cents over the month to $22.73. Over the
past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7
percent.  From September 2009 to September 2010, the Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.1
percent.
     
     The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls increased by 0.1 hour in October, and the manufacturing
workweek for all employees also increased by 0.1 hour.  The
average workweek has increased by 0.6 hour since its recent low
in October 2009.  The manufacturing workweek has increased by 1.6
hours since its recent low in June 2009.
     
     Turning to measures from the survey of households, the
unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6 percent in October.  The
jobless rate has been at or near this level since May.  Among the
unemployed in October, the proportion who had been jobless for 27
weeks or more was 41.8 percent, about the same as in September.
     
     Both the labor force participation rate, at 64.5 percent,
and the employment-population ratio, at 58.3 percent, edged down
in October.  These measures have declined by 0.7 and 0.5
percentage point, respectively, since April.
     
     The number of individuals working part time who preferred
full-time work declined by 318,000 to 9.2 million in October,
following 2 months of large increases.
     
     In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in
October, and the unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent.