Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2010-08-06

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. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and unemployment data we released this morning. Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 131,000 in July, and the unemployment rate remained at 9.5 percent. The decrease in employment largely reflects continued cuts in the number of temporary workers previously hired for Census 2010. Private sector employment edged up (+71,000) over the month. Thus far in 2010, private sector employment has risen by 630,000, although nearly two-thirds of that gain occurred in March and April. In July, employment in the Federal government fell for the second month in a row. The number of temporary Census 2010 workers decreased by 143,000, following a decline of 225,000 in June. This leaves 196,000 temporary decennial census workers on the payroll.