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, September 3, 2010


     In August, nonfarm payroll employment changed little 
(-54,000), and the unemployment rate was about unchanged at 9.6
percent.  Large declines in federal government employment
continued as additional Census 2010 workers completed their
temporary jobs.  Private-sector employment continued to trend up
modestly (+67,000) and has increased by an average of 72,000 per
month over the past 4 months.
     
     In August, federal government employment fell for the third
consecutive month.  The number of temporary Census 2010 workers
declined by 114,000, following declines of 225,000 and 143,000 in
June and July, respectively.  This leaves 82,000 temporary
decennial census workers on the payroll.
     
     Health care continued to add jobs (+28,000) in August, with
employment increases in both ambulatory health care services and
hospitals.  Employment in mining (+8,000) also continued to
expand, reflecting ongoing job gains in support activities for
mining.
     
     Temporary help services employment was up over the month
(+17,000), following virtually no gain in July.  Since September
of last year, this industry has added 392,000 jobs.
     
     Manufacturing employment fell by 27,000 over the month,
mostly offsetting an increase in July.  As with July’s gain, most
of August’s decline occurred in motor vehicles and parts
manufacturing, where a number of plants deviated from their
normal retooling practice of shutting down in July and reopening
in August.  Over the 2-month span, employment was essentially
unchanged in motor vehicles and parts.
     
     In construction, employment was up by 19,000 in August;
however, about half of the increase was due to the return of
10,000 workers to their jobs following a strike in July.  On net,
construction employment is about unchanged since March.
     
     Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls rose by 6 cents in August to $22.66.  Over the past 12
months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent.  From
July 2009 to July 2010, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers increased by 1.3 percent.
     
     Turning to measures from the survey of households, the
unemployment rate was 9.6 percent in August.  From May through
August, the jobless rate remained in a range of 9.5 to 9.7
percent.  The number of unemployed persons who had been jobless
for 6 months or more declined to 6.2 million in August, or 42
percent of the unemployed.
     
     The employment-population ratio was 58.5 percent in August,
essentially unchanged from the prior 2 months.  Among the
employed, the number of individuals working part time who
preferred full-time work rose by 331,000 over the month to 8.9
million.
     
     In summary, both nonfarm payroll employment and the
unemployment rate were little changed in August.  Job losses
continued in federal government as Census 2010 activities scaled
back, while private-sector employment continued on a modest
upward trend.