May 2001 — 2001-05-04

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 Daylight Time. Good morning. I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the labor market data we released this morning. Labor market conditions weakened considerably in April. Payroll employment fell by 223,000, following the loss of 53,000 jobs (as revised) in March, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent. April job losses again were concentrated in manufacturing and help supply services, but the declines were even larger than in recent months. Moreover, in April there was very little job growth elsewhere in the economy. Roughly half of the net employment decline in April occurred in manufacturing, as the nation�s factories shed 104,000 jobs. The bulk of the losses occurred in durable goods manufacturing, where there were declines in nearly all of the component industries.