Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2009-01-09

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. The labor market continued to deteriorate in December. Total nonfarm payroll employment fell by 524,000. This brings job losses in 2008 to 2.6 million, 1.9 million of which occurred in the past 4 months. Employment dropped in nearly all major industry sectors over this 4-month period. In December, the unemployment rate rose from 6.8 percent to 7.2 percent, the highest rate since January 1993. Employment in manufacturing continued to fall over the month (-149,000), with job losses spread throughout the sector. Manufacturing has lost 791,000 jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007 (as designated by the National Bureau of Economic Research). The largest declines over the month occurred in fabricated metals (-28,000) and in motor vehicles and parts (-21,000).