Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation — 2003-04-04

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. Overall, labor market conditions remained relatively weak in March. Nonfarm payroll employment declined by 108,000 over the month, following a steep job loss of 357,000 in February (as revised). In March, job losses continued in manufacturing, retail trade, and transporta- tion, and a job loss occurred in government. The unemploy- ment rate held at 5.8 percent. Looking in more detail at the March data from our survey of employers, manufacturing employment fell by 36,000. Since last July, factory job losses have averaged about 50,000 per month. In March, the losses were again widespread. In fact, there were no significant employment gains in any of the component manufacturing industries.