Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2011-11-04

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. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and unemployment data we released this morning. Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October (+80,000), and the unemployment rate, at 9.0 percent, was little changed. Over the past 12 months, payroll employment has increased by an average of 125,000 per month. In October, private-sector employment increased by 104,000, with continued growth in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, health care, and mining. Government employment continued to trend down. Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in October (+32,000). In recent months, there have been modest job gains in temporary help services and in management and technical consulting services. Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to trend up over the month (+22,000).