FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.S.T.
                         FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2002

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.


                        Statement of

                          Lois Orr
                     Acting Commissioner
                 Bureau of Labor Statistics

                         before the

                  Joint Economic Committee

                   UNITED STATES CONGRESS

                  Friday, February 1, 2002



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

     I appreciate this opportunity to comment on the labor
market data that we released this morning.

     Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 89,000 in January
following job losses that averaged 311,000 a month in the
fourth quarter of 2001.  Manufacturing and construction
employment declined, while services employment was flat.
The unemployment rate decreased by two-tenths of a
percentage point to 5.6 percent after rising by the same
amount in December.

     Looking in more detail at the data from our survey of
employers for January, job losses continued in manufacturing
(-89,000), although at the slowest pace since September.
The largest decline occurred in transportation equipment
(-28,000), as motor vehicle plants had temporary shutdowns
and aircraft factories continued to lose jobs.  Sizable
employment declines also occurred in primary metals,
fabricated metals, industrial machinery, and electronic
equipment.  On the other hand, job losses in manufacturing
were not as widespread as they had been in the fourth
quarter.

     Construction employment held up unusually well last
year.  Unlike past recessions, when construction tended to
be quite hard hit, the industry lost very few jobs during
the last 8 months of 2001.  In January, however, employment
in the industry declined by 54,000, on a seasonally adjusted
basis, despite unusually mild weather.  The special trades
and heavy construction components had the largest losses.
An industry closely tied to construction--the landscaping
component of agricultural services--also lost jobs.

     Wholesale trade employment continued its declining
trend.  The industry has lost 145,000 jobs since November
2000.

     Helping to offset these declines, retail trade
employment rose by 62,000 after seasonal adjustment, as weak
hiring for the 2001 holiday season resulted in fewer layoffs
than usual in January.  Putting this increase in
perspective, employment fell by 241,000 on a seasonally
adjusted basis in the last 5 months of 2001.  The largest
increases in January were in department stores, apparel
stores, and miscellaneous retail establishments (especially
toy stores), where holiday hiring, and therefore post-
holiday layoffs, are heavily concentrated.

     Employment in finance, insurance, and real estate edged
up by 9,000, as relatively low interest rates continued to
spur growth in banks and mortgage brokerages.

     Employment in the services industry overall was little
changed as several component industries had offsetting
movements.  Business services employment fell by 24,000,
reflecting a sizable decline in computer and data processing
services.  Employment in help supply services was little
changed over the month, although the industry has been on a
downward trend since September 2000.  Job losses continued
in the hotel industry, bringing the total decline to 124,000
since the start of the recession.  However, employment in
health services continued its strong growth trend, and
social services also had a job increase.

     Transportation and public utilities employment also was
unchanged in January.  Air transportation grew by 8,000 jobs
after seasonal adjustment, as a very light holiday buildup
in the air freight component resulted in fewer layoffs than
usual.  Employment related to airline passenger service
continued to decline.  The communications industry had job
losses for the third consecutive month.

     Both the total private sector workweek and the factory
workweek edged down by a tenth of an hour to 34.0 and 40.5
hours, respectively.  Factory overtime edged up by a tenth
of an hour to 3.9 hours.

     Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory
workers in the private sector were unchanged at $14.59 in
January.  This followed a gain of 5 cents in December (as
revised).  Hourly earnings increased by 4.0 percent from
January 2001.

     Turning to some of the measures obtained from the
survey of households, the number of unemployed persons fell
and the unemployment rate returned to its November level of
5.6 percent, from 5.8 percent in December.  The jobless rate
for adult women declined in January after rising in
December, while the rates for adult men, teenagers, whites,
blacks, and Hispanics were essentially unchanged.  Looking
at other measures of labor underutilization, the number of
part-time workers who would have preferred full-time work
fell by 294,000 to 4.0 million.  The number of persons
outside the labor force who said they want a job rose by
163,000 to 4.8 million.

     There was a decline of nearly a million in the labor
force, reflecting drops in both employment and unemployment.
However, I would caution against reading too much into a
single month’s estimate for any data series, particularly in
a month such as January when there are large seasonal
movements that can be difficult to adjust for precisely.

     To summarize, the jobless rate in January reversed its
December increase, dropping back to 5.6 percent.  The number
of workers on nonfarm payrolls declined in January, but at a
slower pace than in recent months.  A seasonally adjusted
employment increase in retail trade partially offset losses
in manufacturing and construction, while most other
industries were little changed.


     My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your
questions.

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