June 1999 — 1999-06-04

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. Good morning. I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the employment and unemployment data that we released this morning. The unemployment rate, at 4.2 percent in May, changed little over the month, and has been below 4.5 percent since November 1998. A nominal increase of 11,000 in payroll employment in May followed a large gain of 343,000 (as revised) in April. Job losses occurred throughout the goods-producing sector of the economy in May. In mining, employment continued to recede, with a loss of 7,000 jobs. Since its most recent peak in February 1998, mining has lost 75,000 jobs, and the rate of decrease has accelerated this year. The vast majority of the job losses have been in oil and gas extraction. Construction employment declined by 40,000 in May (on a seasonally adjusted basis).