Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2013-10-22

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. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 148,000 in September, and the unemployment rate, at 7.2 percent, changed little. Over the prior 12 months, job gains averaged 185,000 per month. In September, employment increased in construction, wholesale trade, and transportation and warehousing. The release of these data comes about 2 weeks later than originally scheduled because of the recent partial Federal government shutdown. Data collection for the estimates in this statement had been completed prior to the shutdown in accordance with our normal schedule. However, the processing of some estimates and other production activities were delayed due to the shutdown. Construction added 20,000 jobs in September after 6 months of little change. Wholesale trade employment increased by 16,000 in September. Transportation and warehousing employment increased by 23,000 over the month.