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
                              
                     Kathleen P. Utgoff
                        Commissioner
                 Bureau of Labor Statistics
                              
                   Friday, October 3, 2003
                              
                              
     The unemployment rate held at 6.1 percent in September.
Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (+57,000) over
the month at 129.9 million.
     
     The pace of job loss in manufacturing eased somewhat.
In September, factory employment was down by 29,000 compared
with an average monthly drop of 54,000 for the prior 12
months.  The manufacturing workweek (40.4 hours) and factory
overtime (4.2 hours) each increased by two-tenths of an hour
over the month.
     
     Employment in temporary help services rose (+33,000 in
September) for the fifth consecutive month. Since April, the 
industry has added 147,000 jobs.  Elsewhere in professional 
and business service industries, architectural and 
engineering services employment increased over the month.

     In retail trade, employment rose at both motor vehicle
and parts dealers and in building material and garden supply
stores.  Thus far this year, the monthly pace of job growth
in the latter industry has accelerated relative to 2001 and
2002, likely reflecting home building and improvement
activities.  Construction employment continued to trend up
over the month and, since February, has increased by
137,000.
     
     Employment in the health care industry, typically one
of the strongest areas of growth, was essentially unchanged
over the month.  With few exceptions, employment in most
other industries was little changed in September.
     
     Many labor market measures from the household survey
showed little movement over the month.  The unemployment
rate remained at 6.1 percent, and the civilian labor force
and employment were flat.  However, the number of unemployed
who had been searching for work for 27 weeks or more rose to
2.1 million.  In addition, the number of persons working
part time because of business and economic conditions
increased to nearly 5 million.  The total count of persons
at work part time, however, was essentially unchanged at
24.0 million.  In September, the employment-population ratio
was 62.0 percent, down a percentage point from a year
earlier.
     
                           - 2 -

     Each fall, we announce the preliminary estimate of the
next benchmark revision to the payroll survey.  The
benchmark revision is a standard annual procedure that
adjusts the payroll survey’s sample-based employment
estimates to incorporate universe employment counts.
     
     Preliminary tabulations of first quarter 2003
employment from state unemployment insurance tax reports--
the principal source of the universe employment counts--
indicate that the estimate of total nonfarm payroll
employment will require a downward revision of approximately
145,000, or one-tenth of one percent, for the March 2003
reference month.  The historical average for benchmark
revisions over the past decade has been plus or minus three-
tenths of one percent.  Hence, the payroll survey has
tracked closely to the universe employment counts for this
benchmark period.  When implemented in February 2004 with
the release of data for January 2004, the benchmark revision
will finalize payroll survey employment through March 2003
at a slightly lower level than the currently published
series.
     
     To summarize the September data released today, payroll
employment was little changed over the month and the
unemployment rate remained at 6.1 percent.