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

                          Erica L. Groshen
                            Commissioner
                     Bureau of Labor Statistics

                      Friday, March 7, 2014


      Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 175,000 in February, and 
the unemployment rate, at 6.7 percent, changed little. 
Employment increased in professional and business services and 
in wholesale trade but fell in the information industry. 
      
      Incorporating the revisions for December and January, which 
increased nonfarm employment by 25,000 on net, monthly job gains 
have averaged 129,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months 
prior to February, employment growth averaged 189,000 per month. 
      
      Employment in professional and business services rose by 
79,000 in February. Within the industry, accounting and 
bookkeeping services added 16,000 jobs. Employment continued to 
trend up in temporary help services (+24,000) and in services to 
buildings and dwellings (+11,000).
      
      In February, wholesale trade employment increased by 
15,000, mostly in durable goods. Over the prior 12 months, 
wholesale trade added an average of 9,000 jobs per month.
      
      Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services 
and drinking places continued to trend up in February (+21,000). 
Over the prior 12 months, food services and drinking places 
added an average of 27,000 jobs per month.
      
      Construction employment changed little in February 
(+15,000). Within construction, employment in heavy and civil 
engineering increased by 12,000 over the month.
      
      Health care employment changed little in February (+10,000) 
and has shown little movement since November. Within the 
industry, offices of physicians added 8,000 jobs in February. 
Employment in hospitals changed little over the month but is 
down by 10,000 since November. 
      
      Employment in the information industry decreased by 16,000 
in February, reflecting a decline in motion picture and sound 
recording (-14,000). Employment in the motion picture industry 
can be volatile from month to month.  
      
      Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 
payrolls rose by 9 cents in February. Over the past 12 months, 
average hourly earnings have risen by 52 cents, or 2.2 percent. 
From January 2013 to January 2014, the Consumer Price Index for 
All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose by 1.6 percent.
      
      Turning now to our survey of households, both the 
unemployment rate, at 6.7 percent, and the number of unemployed 
persons, at 10.5 million, were little changed in February. The 
number of unemployed persons who had been jobless for 27 weeks 
or more rose to 3.8 million, or 37 percent of the unemployed.
      
      The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 63.0 
percent in February. Over the year, the labor force 
participation rate has declined by 0.5 percentage point.
      
      The employment-population ratio, at 58.8 percent, was 
unchanged in February and has shown little movement, on net, 
over the past 12 months.
      
      Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work 
in February, 2.3 million were classified as marginally attached 
to the labor force, down by 285,000 from a year earlier. These 
individuals had not 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 755,000 in February, down 
by 130,000 from a year earlier.
      
      Severe winter weather occurred in much of the country 
during the February reference periods for the establishment and 
household surveys. Information on how weather can affect 
employment and hours data can be found in Question 8 in the
Frequently Asked Questions section of our news release and on
our Web site at www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.faq.htm.
      
      In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 
in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.7 
percent.