Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2011-10-07

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. Nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 in September, in part due to the return of about 45,000 telecommunications workers following a strike in August. The unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent. Since April, payroll employment has increased by an average of 72,000 per month, compared with an average increase of 161,000 for the prior 7 months. As in recent months, September job gains were concentrated in a few major private-sector industries, while government employment continued to trend down. Health care employment increased by 44,000, with job gains in both ambulatory health care services and hospitals. Over the past 12 months, the health care industry has added 336,000 jobs. Employment in professional and business services increased by 48,000 in September.