Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation — 2007-11-02

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. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 166,000 in October, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.7 percent. Job gains continued in professional and business services, food services, and health care. Manufacturing employment continued to decline, while construction employment was little changed over the month. Before examining October's developments in detail, it should be noted that the wildfires and associated evacuations in Southern California had no discernable effect on the data in this report. The household survey reference period preceded the wildfires and evacuations, as did the reference period for most employers in the establishment survey. Household survey interviews were largely completed before the wildfires began, and response rates for the establishment survey were within the normal range for the affected areas.