FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.D.T. FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1999 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 Katharine G. Abraham Commissioner Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday, May 7, 1999 Good morning. I am pleased to have this opportunity to comment on the employment and unemployment data that we released this morning. The unemployment rate was essentially unchanged in April, at 4.3 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment, as measured by our survey of business establishments, rose by 234,000 over the month, in line with average monthly growth for the prior 12 months. There were sizable job gains in many service-producing industries in April, but manufacturing and mining employment continued to decline. April’s growth was led by the services industry, which added 131,000 jobs, somewhat above the average monthly gain for the prior year. Employment in business services rose by 51,000 in April, buoyed by growth in help supply services (18,000) and computer and data processing (16,000). Health services added 23,000 jobs over the month, with gains in doctors' offices, hospitals, and home health care services. Employment increases also occurred in motion pictures and in engineering and management services. The retail trade industry added 66,000 jobs in April. Most of the net gain over the month was in eating and drinking places, where employment rose by 64,000, following a loss of about the same magnitude in March. Employment in eating and drinking places has been subject to month-to- month fluctuations during the past year, but the underlying growth trend has been strong. Elsewhere in retail trade, there were gains among automotive dealers and furniture retailers. A decline in the number of jobs in general merchandise stores in April reversed an increase in the prior month. Employment in finance, insurance, and real estate rose by 23,000 in April, following 2 months of tepid growth. The April advance was in line with the average monthly increase for 1998. Finance accounted for the bulk of the April job gain, as there were sizable over-the-month increases in nondepository institutions and among security brokerages. Employment in insurance and real estate edged up in April, but, in both industries, job growth thus far in 1999 has been somewhat slower than in 1998. In transportation and public utilities, employment rose by 22,000 over the month, mostly in transportation. Notable gains occurred in local transit, water transportation, and transportation services. April’s 11,000 increase in wholesale trade employment was split nearly evenly between durable and nondurable goods distribution and was in line with the average gains of the prior year. Federal government employment fell by 23,000 over the month, largely reflecting a temporary decline in the number of workers preparing for the decennial census. In the goods-producing sector of the economy, construction employment changed little in April, after seasonal adjustment. Interpreting the recent month-to-month changes in construction employment has been complicated by unusual weather patterns. Since October of last year, however, construction employment growth has averaged 32,000 jobs per month, somewhat above the trend for the prior 12 months. Manufacturing employment continued to decline in April, with a loss of 29,000 jobs. A strike in shipbuilding reduced factory payrolls by 7,000. Job declines unrelated to the strike continued in aircraft, industrial machinery, fabricated metals, instruments, textiles, and apparel. After adjusting for the effects of the strike, some 402,000 jobs have been lost in manufacturing since employment last peaked in March 1998. The manufacturing workweek rose by two-tenths of an hour to 41.7 hours in April, and factory overtime slipped one-tenth of an hour to 4.4 hours. In mining, employment fell by 6,000 in April. The long-term employment decline in the industry has accelerated thus far in 1999 as compared to 1998. Most of the decline in mining has occurred in oil and gas extraction. Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers rose by 3 cents in April. Over the past year, hourly earnings were up 3.2 percent. Increases in hourly earnings have moderated somewhat in recent months. Data from our survey of households indicated little change in the job market over the month. The unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in April, not much different from 4.2 percent in March. The rate has been at or below 4.5 percent since April 1998, and at or below 5.0 percent since April 1997. There was little change in the unemployment rates for most of the major demographic groups over the month. The jobless rates for whites and Hispanics edged up in April, after dipping in March. Over the past year, the unemployment rates for most groups have fluctuated a bit from month to month, but have shown no definitive trend. A notable exception is the figure for black workers, which, at 7.7 percent in April, is clearly lower than a year earlier. Even with this improvement, however, it remains about twice the jobless rate for white workers (3.8 percent). The number of persons employed part time even though they would have preferred full-time work--sometimes referred to as the "visibly underemployed"--was 3.4 million in April. Although down over the year, the size of this group has been little changed since late last summer. Civilian employment was essentially unchanged in April, and the proportion of the population that is employed, at 64.2 percent, also was little changed. About 5.8 percent of employed persons held more than one job in April (not seasonally adjusted), down slightly from 6.1 percent a year earlier. Among persons outside the labor force, there were some 1.3 million individuals (not seasonally adjusted) who were classified as "marginally attached" to the labor market in April, about the same as a year earlier. These are persons who want and are available for work and looked for employment at some point in the past year, but are not currently looking for a job. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of this group who have stopped looking for work because they feel their search would be in vain, was 245,000 in April (not seasonally adjusted), down from 344,000 a year earlier. In summary, payroll employment rose by 234,000 in April, in line with the trend over the past year. Job losses continued, however, in manufacturing and mining. The unemployment rate was about unchanged at 4.3 percent. My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your questions. 5 5