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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, November 5, 2010 Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in October. The unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent and has been essentially unchanged since May. Since December 2009, nonfarm payroll employment has risen by 874,000, and private-sector employment has increased by 1.1 million. Within the service-providing sector, temporary help services added 35,000 jobs over the month, bringing total job gains since September 2009 to 451,000. Employment in computer systems design and related services rose by 8,000 in October; this industry has added 53,000 jobs since June 2009. Health care employment continued to increase (+24,000) in October, with gains throughout the industry. Within leisure and hospitality, job losses in arts, entertainment, and recreation (-26,000) offset gains in food services and drinking places (+24,000). So far this year, employment in food services has risen by 143,000. Retail trade employment rose in October (+28,000), with gains occurring among automobile dealers (+6,000) and electronics and appliance stores (+5,000). Within the goods-producing sector, employment in mining continued to expand (+8,000), reflecting ongoing gains in support activities for mining. Mining has added 88,000 jobs over the last 12 months. Employment in most other major private-sector industries was little changed in October. Government employment overall was about unchanged. However, employment in local government, excluding education, decreased by 14,000 over the month and has fallen by 123,000 over the last 12 months. The number of temporary decennial census workers fell by 5,000 in October; only about 1,000 remained on Federal payrolls. Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls were up by 5 cents over the month to $22.73. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 1.7 percent. From September 2009 to September 2010, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.1 percent. The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour in October, and the manufacturing workweek for all employees also increased by 0.1 hour. The average workweek has increased by 0.6 hour since its recent low in October 2009. The manufacturing workweek has increased by 1.6 hours since its recent low in June 2009. Turning to measures from the survey of households, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6 percent in October. The jobless rate has been at or near this level since May. Among the unemployed in October, the proportion who had been jobless for 27 weeks or more was 41.8 percent, about the same as in September. Both the labor force participation rate, at 64.5 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 58.3 percent, edged down in October. These measures have declined by 0.7 and 0.5 percentage point, respectively, since April. The number of individuals working part time who preferred full-time work declined by 318,000 to 9.2 million in October, following 2 months of large increases. In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in October, and the unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent.