The following is the unedited transcript of the news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.


Both nonfarm payroll employment, at 138.1 million, and the unemployment rate, at 4.9 percent, were essentially unchanged in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The small January movement in nonfarm payroll employment -17,000 reflected declines in construction and manufacturing and job growth in health care. Average hourly earnings rose by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, over the month.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons (7.6 million) and the unemployment rate (4.9 percent) were essentially unchanged in January. Over the month, the unemployment rates for all major worker groups--adult men (4.4 percent), adult women (4.2 percent), teenagers (18.0 percent), whites (4.4 percent), blacks (9.2 percent), and Hispanics (6.3 percent)--showed little or no change. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment and the employment-population ratio edged up in January after accounting for the annual adjustment to the population controls. The civilian labor force also rose when adjustment is made to account for the effect of population control changes. The labor force participation rate (66.1 percent) was about the same as in December.

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.7 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in January, up from about 1.6 million a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 467,000 discouraged workers in January, about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.3 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in January had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

In January, total nonfarm payroll employment was about unchanged (-17,000), after edging up in November (60,000) and December (82,000). In 2007, payroll employment increased by an average of 95,000 jobs per month. Both construction and manufacturing employment continued to decline in January, and health care employment rose.

Construction employment decreased by 27,000 in January and has fallen by 284,000 since its peak in September 2006. Over-the-month job losses occurred in residential building (-10,000) and residential specialty trade contractors (-18,000).

Manufacturing lost 28,000 jobs in January. Over the month, small declines occurred among many durable and nondurable goods industries. Manufacturing has lost 269,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

In the service-providing sector, health care employment continued to grow in January (27,000), about in line with average monthly gains over the prior 12 months. Within health care, over-the-month job gains occurred in ambulatory health care services (14,000), which includes offices of physicians, and in hospitals (10,000).

Food services employment continued to trend upward in January. From November through January, food services added an average of 16,000 jobs per month, compared with an average gain of 28,000 jobs for the 12-month period ending in October.Employment in professional and technical services was little changed in January following a large increase (49,000) in the prior month. In 2007, job growth in this sector totaled 335,000.

In January, employment in financial activities was about unchanged as commercial banking lost 4,000 jobs, and securities, commodity contracts, and investments added 5,000 jobs. Since reaching a peak in December 2006, employment in financial activities has declined by 99,000.

In January, employment in both wholesale and retail trade was little changed. Within retail trade, employment in food and beverage stores was up by 12,000 over the month.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

In January, the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 41.1 hours, and factory overtime was unchanged at 4.0 hours.

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls declined by 0.3 percent in January to 107.5 (2002=100). The manufacturing index was unchanged at 93.7.