Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2010-02-05

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. The unemployment rate declined from 10.0 to 9.7 percent in January. Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged (-20,000) and on net has shown little movement over the last 3 months. In January, job losses continued in construction and in transportation and warehousing, while employment increased in temporary help services and retail trade. With revisions released today, job losses since the start of the recession in December 2007 totaled 8.4 million, substantially more than previously reported. Construction employment fell by 75,000 in January, about in line with the average monthly job loss in 2009. Nonresidential specialty trade contracting accounted for the much of the over- the-month decline.