May 2000 — 2000-05-05

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 Daylight Time. Good morning. I am pleased to have this opportunity to comment on the employment and unemployment estimates that we released this morning. The unemployment rate, as measured by our household survey, edged down to 3.9 percent in April, the first time it has been below 4.0 percent since January 1970. Nonfarm payroll employment, as measured by our establishment survey, rose by 340,000 in April, boosted again by the hiring of temporary workers for Census 2000. Excluding these short- term jobs, employment increased by 267,000 in April. Private payroll employment growth has averaged 222,000 per month thus far this year, compared with 198,000 per month for all of 1999. The services industry added 121,000 jobs in April, in line with its monthly average for the prior 12 months.