Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation — 2002-11-01

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 Standard Time. Statement of Overall, labor market conditions were little changed in October. The unemployment rate was 5.7 percent, essentially the same as in September, and nonfarm payroll employment held at 130.9 million. The unemployment rate has shown no clear trend since this past spring, and payroll employment appears to have leveled off in recent months following a period of modest growth from May through August. Although topside payroll employment held steady in October (-5,000), there were offsetting movements among various industries. Employment in manufacturing continued to trend down as the nation's factories shed 49,000 jobs. The rate of job loss in manufacturing has been higher over the past 3 months than it had been from April to July.