Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2008-08-01

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. I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the employment and unemployment data that we released this morning. Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in July (-51,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 5.5 to 5.7 percent. Thus far in 2008, payroll employment has fallen by 463,000, or an average of 66,000 per month. In July, job losses continued in several industries, including construction, manufacturing, and employment services. Health care and mining continued to add jobs. Employment in construction declined by 22,000 in July. Since its September 2006 peak, construction employment has decreased by 557,000. Nearly three-fourths of the decline (-402,000) has occurred since October 2007. Manufacturing employment fell by 35,000 in July.