March 2001 — 2001-03-09

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. I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the labor market data we released this morning. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2 percent in February, and payroll employment rose by 135,000. Since early last fall, the growth in payroll employment has slackened. In the 5 months since September, the average monthly increase in payroll employment has been 103,000. In contrast, during the first 9 months of last year, payroll employment had grown by 187,000 a month, on average. The key features of the February data, in my view, are the continued reduction in manufacturing employment and hours, the more- than-offsetting job gains in services and some other industries, and the over-the-month rise in average hourly earnings. Manufacturing employment fell by 94,000 in February.