Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up (+97,000), and the un- employment rate (4.5 percent) was essentially unchanged in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment grew in some service-providing industries but declined sharply in construction. Manufacturing employment continued to trend downward. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.4 percent, over the month.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

In February, the number of unemployed persons (6.9 million) and the unem- ployment rate (4.5 percent) were essentially unchanged. The jobless rate has remained within a narrow range--4.4 to 4.6 percent--since September 2006. The unemployment rate for Hispanics (5.2 percent) edged down in February, following an increase in January. The rates for the other major worker groups--adult men (4.1 percent), adult women (3.8 percent), teenagers (14.9 percent), whites (4.0 percent), and blacks (7.9 percent)--showed little or no change. The unemployment rate for Asians was 2.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The share of the unemployed who had been without a job for 27 weeks or longer increased by 1.7 percentage points to 17.8 percent in February. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Both total employment (145.9 million) and the employment-population ratio (63.2 percent) were about unchanged in February, as were the civilian labor force (152.8 million) and the labor force participation rate (66.2 percent). The participation rate in February was about the same as a year earlier. (See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

About 1.5 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in February--essentially unchanged from a year ago. 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 375,000 discouraged workers in February, little different from a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work

Table A. Major indicators of labor market activity, seasonally adjusted (Numbers in thousands)

Click here to view Table A.

specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The other 1.1 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in February had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-13.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

In February, total payroll employment was up by 97,000, to 137.4 million, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed gains of 226,000 in December and 146,000 in January (as revised). In February, employment continued to increase in health care, professional and business services, and food services. Construc- tion employment declined sharply over the month, and manufacturing continued to lose jobs. (See table B-1.)

In the service-providing sector, health care employment rose by 33,000 in February, as job growth continued throughout the component industries. Over the year, health care employment has increased by 340,000.

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in February (+29,000) with small gains occurring in most of its component industries. Over the past 12 months, this industry has added 460,000 jobs. In February, em- ployment in services to buildings and dwellings grew by 11,000. Temporary help services employment was little changed over the month and over the year.

Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, food services and drinking places added 21,000 jobs in February. Over the year, food services employment has risen by 348,000. Employment in the information industry was up by 13,000 in February. Within financial activities, depository credit intermediation added 4,000 jobs. Over the month, employment was essentially unchanged in both wholesale and retail trade. Air transportation lost 7,000 jobs.

In the goods-producing sector, construction employment fell by 62,000 in February after posting a gain of 28,000 in January. Unusually severe winter weather conditions in some areas of the country in February likely contributed to job losses in the indus- try. Employment declined in both residential (-21,000) and nonresidential (-25,000) specialty trades, and heavy construction lost 10,000 jobs. Employment in residential specialty trades has been declining since February 2006.

Manufacturing employment continued to trend down over the month (-14,000). Job losses occurred in wood products (-4,000), semiconductors and electronic components (-3,000), and textile mills (-3,000). Machinery added 5,000 jobs in February. In mining, employment rose by 4,000.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls fell by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours in February. Weekly hours for factory workers were unchanged at 40.8 hours, while factory overtime hours in- creased by 0.1 hour to 4.2 hours. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers declined by 0.3 percent in February to 106.4 (2002=100). The manufacturing in- dex decreased by 0.1 percent to 94.7. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 6 cents, or 0.4 percent, in February to $17.16. This increase followed gains of 3 cents in January and 8 cents in December. Average weekly earnings were up by 0.1 percent in February to $578.29. Over the year, hourly and weekly earnings rose by 4.1 and 3.8 percent, respectively. (See table B-3.)

The Employment Situation for March 2007 is scheduled to be released on Friday, April 6, at 8:30 A.M. (EDT).

Adjustment to Educational Attainment Data from the Household Survey

An adjustment was made to the procedure for producing the educational attain- ment data for February 2007. In this release, those data appear in table A-4. The adjustment was made to minimize the impact of a questionnaire error that af- fected a regular February update of educational attainment. The questionnaire error did not affect any other data series from the household survey.

Under the usual procedure, household survey respondents (who are in the sur- vey for a total of 8 months) are asked to update their educational attainment at several points during the year. This update is done to determine whether their level of schooling has increased since their initial interview. The updating process did not work correctly this February because of a problem related to new questionnaire software.

BLS and the Census Bureau, which conducts the survey, decided not to use the educational attainment updates collected in February and instead continued to use existing information collected in prior months. Because the educational at- tainment of the population changes very slowly from month to month, the degree of understatement of educational level resulting from this adjustment is small. The Census Bureau and BLS will continue to examine the sources of the problem.

For additional information, contact the Division of Labor Force Statistics at cpsinfo@bls.gov or call (202) 691-6378.