PureStone Partners LLC

Statement of Keith Hall, Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics before the Joint Economic Committee UNITED STATES CONGRESS (PDF of his speech, or PDF of the actual report)

“Job losses continued in September, and the unemployment rate continued to trend up, reaching 9.8 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 263,000 over the month, and losses have averaged 307,000 per month since May. Payroll employment has fallen for 21 consecutive months, with declines totaling 7.2 million. In September, notable job losses occurred in construction, manufacturing, government, and retail trade.

Construction employment decreased by 64,000 in September. Job losses averaged 66,000 per month from May through September, compared with an average of 117,000 per month from November 2008 through April.”