August 2001 — 2001-08-03

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. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to comment on the labor market data for July released this morning. Total nonfarm payroll employment continued to erode in July, with a net loss of 42,000. Manufacturing employment continued its year-long slide, and most other industry divisions had little or no job growth. The unemployment rate remained at 4.5 percent in July and has been essentially unchanged since April. Manufacturing employment declined by 49,000 in July. During the first 6 months of the year, job losses had averaged nearly 100,000 a month. The largest declines in July continued to be in electrical equipment (-24,000) and industrial machinery (-21,000).