Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation — 2003-10-03

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. 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.