May 1999 — 1999-05-07

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 am pleased to have this opportunity to comment on the employment and unemployment data that we released this morning. The unemployment rate was essentially unchanged in April, at 4.3 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment, as measured by our survey of business establishments, rose by 234,000 over the month, in line with average monthly growth for the prior 12 months. There were sizable job gains in many service-producing industries in April, but manufacturing and mining employment continued to decline. April�s growth was led by the services industry, which added 131,000 jobs, somewhat above the average monthly gain for the prior year. Employment in business services rose by 51,000 in April, buoyed by growth in help supply services (18,000) and computer and data processing (16,000).