Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation — 2005-04-01

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. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 110,000 in March, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.2 percent. Over the year, payroll employment has risen by 2.1 million, and the unemployment rate has trended down from 5.7 percent. Several industries continued to add jobs in March, notably construction, health care, and mining. In construction, employment rose by 26,000. Since its trough 2 years earlier, employment in this industry has grown by nearly half a million. Most of this gain reflected strength in the components of residential construction; however, employment in nonresidential specialty trade contracting also was up over the 2-year period (122,000). In the health care industry, employment continued to grow, increasing by 16,000 in March. Job growth was split equally among hospitals and ambulatory health care services.