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

                          William W. Beach
                            Commissioner
                     Bureau of Labor Statistics

                      Friday, November 1, 2019


	Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 128,000 in 
October, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.6 
percent. Notable employment gains occurred in food services and 
drinking places, social assistance, and financial activities.  
Within manufacturing, employment declined in motor vehicles and 
parts due to strike activity. Federal government employment was 
down, reflecting a drop in the number of temporary jobs for the 
2020 Census.      

	Incorporating revisions for August and September, which 
increased nonfarm payroll employment by 95,000, monthly job 
gains have averaged 176,000 over the past 3 months. Job growth 
has averaged 167,000 per month thus far in 2019, compared with 
an average gain of 223,000 per month in 2018.	

	Employment in food services and drinking places rose by 
48,000 over the month. Monthly job growth in the industry has 
averaged 38,000 over the past 3 months, compared with an average 
monthly gain of 16,000 in the first 7 months of 2019. 

	Social assistance added 20,000 jobs in October, with most 
of the gain occurring in individual and family services 
(+17,000). Over the past 12 months, employment in social 
assistance has increased by 139,000.

	In October, financial activities added 16,000 jobs. Within 
the industry, employment increased in real estate and rental and 
leasing (+10,000) and in credit intermediation and related 
activities (+6,000).

	Over the month, employment continued to trend up in 
professional and business services (+22,000) and in health care 
(+15,000).

	Manufacturing employment declined by 36,000 in October. 
Employment in motor vehicles and parts manufacturing decreased 
by 42,000, reflecting strike activity.

	Within government, federal employment declined in October 
(-17,000), as 20,000 temporary workers who had been preparing 
for the 2020 Census completed their work.

	In October, employment changed little in other major 
industries--including mining, construction, wholesale trade, 
retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and information.

      Average hourly earnings of all employees on private 
nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents in October to $28.18, following 
little change (+1 cent) in September. Over the past 12 months, 
average hourly earnings have risen by 3.0 percent; the over-the-
year percent change has been 3.0 percent or above for 15 
consecutive months. From September 2018 to September 2019, the 
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 
by 1.7 percent (on a seasonally adjusted basis).

	Turning to measures from the survey of households, the 
unemployment rate, at 3.6 percent, was little changed in 
October. The number of unemployed people, 5.9 million, also 
changed little over the month.

	Among the unemployed, the number of people searching for 
work for 27 weeks or more was essentially unchanged at 1.3 
million in October. These long-term unemployed accounted for 
21.5 percent of the unemployed.

	The labor force participation rate, at 63.3 percent, was 
about unchanged in October. The employment-population ratio 
remained at 61.0 percent over the month. Both measures were up 
by 0.4 percentage point over the year.

	In October, 4.4 million people were working part time for 
economic reasons (also referred to as involuntary part-time 
workers), little changed from the previous month.

	Among those neither working nor looking for work in 
October, 1.2 million were considered marginally attached to the 
labor force, down by 262,000 from a year earlier. (People who 
are marginally attached to the labor force 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.) Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally 
attached who believed no jobs were available for them, numbered 
341,000 in October, down by 165,000 from a year earlier.

	In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 128,000 in 
October, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 3.6 
percent.