Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2010-03-05

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. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and unemployment data we released this morning. Nonfarm payroll employment was little changed (-36,000) in February, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent. Employment fell in construction and information, while temporary help services added jobs. Severe winter weather in parts of the country may have affected payroll employment and hours in February. However, as I will explain in a moment, there are too many unknowns to say precisely how much the weather might have affected these measures. Construction employment fell by 64,000 in February, about in line with the average monthly job loss over the prior 6 months. Job losses continued throughout the industry, although nonresidential specialty trades again accounted for much of the over-the-month decline.