TEXT FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.S.T. FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 1995 ___________________________________________________________ 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 time. ____________________________________________ Statement of Katharine G. Abraham Commissioner Bureau of Labor Statistics before the Joint Economic Committee UNITED STATES CONGRESS March 10, 1995 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: I appreciate this opportunity to provide comments on the labor market data released this morning. Payroll employment in the nation's nonfarm industries rose by 318,000 in February, with the largest gains in services, retail trade, and manufacturing. Total employment, as measured by our survey of households, also rose markedly. The unemployment rate returned to 5.4 percent, after rising to 5.7 percent in January. The services industry accounted for 191,000 of February's payroll job gain. Within services, employment in business services grew by 73,000; about half of this took place in the rapidly growing personnel supply services -2- industry. The return of colder weather and the consequent pick-up in winter sports boosted employment in amusements and recreation, which had been held down by unusually mild weather conditions. Health services continued its long-term employment growth, adding 25,000 jobs in February. Employment in retail trade increased by 73,000, with most of the gain occurring in eating and drinking places. There also were increases of about 20,000 in wholesale trade and in transportation and public utilities. The return to more normal winter weather following an unusually mild January led to a decline of 32,000 in construction employment. Manufacturing continued to show relatively strong growth, with the addition of 27,000 jobs. This gain, however, was smaller than the change in any of the previous 4 months, each of which saw factory employment grow by more than 40,000. February's gain occurred in the durable goods industries, notably fabricated metals, industrial machinery, electronic equipment, and transportation equipment. The factory workweek was little changed over the month, remaining at a very high level, and factory overtime held at a record 4.9 hours. Average weekly hours of private production or nonsupervisory workers dropped 0.4 hour, reversing January's gain. Hourly earnings were unchanged in February, following a sharp increase in January. As I stressed last month, the -3- size of the change in this series often varies considerably from month to month. Turning to the results of our household survey, both the number of unemployed persons, at 7.2 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.4 percent, returned to their December lows after rising in January. These movements occurred mostly among adult men. Other indicators of labor market weakness that had worsened in January also improved in February. These included the number of persons working part time for economic reasons, the number of unemployed job losers, and the number unemployed 5 weeks or less. Long- term unemployment continued its slow downtrend. Total employment rose by 486,000 to reach 125.1 million in February. As a result, the employment-population ratio-- the proportion of the working-age population with jobs--rose by 0.2 percentage point to 63.2 percent. This was nearly a full percentage point higher than a year earlier. In summary, both the payroll and the household survey registered solid employment gains in February, and unemployment returned to its December low after having risen in January. My colleagues and I would be glad to answer any questions you might have.