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

                        Erica L. Groshen
                          Commissioner
                   Bureau of Labor Statistics

                    Friday, October 2, 2015


      Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in 
September, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.1 
percent. Employment rose in health care and information, while 
mining lost jobs. Thus far in 2015, nonfarm job growth has 
averaged 198,000 per month, compared with an average monthly 
gain of 260,000 in 2014.

      Incorporating revisions for July and August, which 
decreased nonfarm payroll employment by 59,000, monthly job 
gains have averaged 167,000 over the past 3 months. 

      Health care employment rose by 34,000 in September, in line 
with its average monthly gain of 38,000 over the prior 12 
months. Hospitals added 16,000 jobs over the month, and 
employment in ambulatory health care continued to trend up 
(+13,000). 

      Employment in information grew by 12,000 in September. Over 
the year, the industry has added 44,000 jobs.

      Employment in professional and business services continued 
to trend up over the month (+31,000). Job growth has averaged 
45,000 per month thus far in 2015, compared with an average 
monthly gain of 59,000 in 2014. In September, employment rose in 
computer systems design (+7,000) and legal services (+5,000).

      Retail trade employment trended up in September (+24,000), 
in line with the average gain of 27,000 per month over the prior 
12 months. In September, job gains occurred in general 
merchandise stores (+10,000) and auto dealers (+5,000).

      Employment in food services and drinking places also 
continued to trend up in September (+21,000). Over the year, 
employment in this industry has expanded by 349,000. 

      Mining employment fell by 10,000 in September, and has 
declined by 102,000 since reaching a peak in December 2014. In 
September, support activities for mining lost 7,000 jobs. 

      Construction employment was little changed in September 
and has shown little movement over the past several months.
Manufacturing employment also changed little in September and
has shown little net change thus far this year.

      In September, average hourly earnings of all employees on 
private nonfarm payrolls, at $25.09, were little changed 
(-1 cent), following a rise of 9 cents in August. Over the past 
12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.2 percent. 
From August 2014 to August 2015, the Consumer Price Index for 
all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 0.2 percentage point 
(on a seasonally adjusted basis).

      Turning to measures from the household survey, the 
unemployment rate held at 5.1 percent in September, and the 
number of unemployed was little changed at 7.9 million. Among 
the unemployed, 2.1 million, or 26.6 percent, had been 
unemployed for 27 weeks or more, little changed from the prior 
month.

      The labor force participation rate decreased to 62.4 
percent in September; it had been 62.6 percent for the prior 3 
months. The employment-population ratio edged down to 59.2 
percent over the month after showing little change for the first 
8 months of the year.

      The number of persons employed part time for economic 
reasons fell by 447,000 to 6.0 million in September. These 
individuals, also referred to as involuntary part-time workers, 
would have preferred full-time employment but were working part 
time because their hours had been cut back or because they were 
unable to find full-time work. The number of persons working 
part time for economic reasons has declined by 1.0 million over 
the past year.

      Among people who were neither working nor looking for work 
in September, 1.9 million were classified as marginally attached 
to the labor force, down from 2.2 million 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 635,000 in September, 
little changed from a year earlier.

      In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 
in September, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.1 
percent.