Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2009-04-03

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. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and unemployment data we released this morning. Labor market conditions continued to deteriorate in March. Total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 663,000, and the unemployment rate increased from 8.1 to 8.5 percent. Since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, job losses have totaled 5.1 million, 3.3 million of which occurred in just the past 5 months. These declines have been widespread across industry sectors, but particularly sharp in manufacturing, construction, and temporary help services. Together, these industries have accounted for nearly two-thirds of the job loss during the recession. In March, manufacturing employment fell by 161,000, with job losses spread throughout the sector.