Current Employment Statistics Highlights
March 2008

Bureau of Labor Statistics 4apr2008

Employment in total nonfarm 
1997-2008 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Notes: Shaded area denotes recession. Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

Employment in total nonfarm
Over-the-month change, 2007-08 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Note: Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

• Nonfarm payroll employment edged down in March (-80,000). Over the past three months, nonfarm payroll employment has declined by 232,000. 
• In the first quarter of 2008, employment has decreased by a monthly average of 77,000. This is down from monthly job growth of 75,000 in the last half of 2007 and of 107,000 during the first half of 2007. 

Employment in total nonfarm
Over-the-month change, March 2008 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Note: Data are preliminary. 

• In the goods-producing sector, both construction and manufacturing employment continued to decline, while job growth in natural resources and mining trended upward. 
• In the service-providing sector, retail, financial activities, and professional and business services experienced job losses; education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and government employment continued to expand. 

Average weekly hours, total private 
1997-2008 
Seasonally adjusted 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Notes: Shaded area denotes recession. Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

Index of total private
aggregate weekly hours 
1997-2008 
Seasonally adjusted, 2002=100 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Notes: Shaded area denotes recession. Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 
Aggregate weekly hours are the product of average weekly hours and production and nonsupervisory workers. 

• In March, the average weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 0.1 hour. The workweek has fluctuated no more than 0.1 hour from 33.8 hours, seasonally adjusted, since November 2004. 
• The index of total private aggregate weekly hours increased by 0.2 percent in March. In the past 6 months, the index has remained essentially unchanged. 

Over-the-year percent changes in average 
hourly earnings and CPI-W (1982-84=100) 
1997-2008 
Seasonally adjusted, percent 

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Indexes program and 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4,2008 
Notes: Shaded area denotes recession. Most recent two months of CES data are preliminary.

Index of total private
aggregate weekly payrolls
1997-2008
Seasonally adjusted, 2002=100

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Notes: Shaded area denotes recession. Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 
Aggregate weekly payrolls are the product of average hourly earnings, average weekly hours, and production and nonsupervisory workers.

• Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 5 cents in March. For the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.6 percent.
• The index of total private aggregate weekly payrolls rose 0.5 percent in March. The index has grown by 4.1 percent over the past 12 months compared to 6.1 percent during the preceding 12 months. 

Employment in mining 
Over-the-month change, 2007-08 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Note: Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

• Employment in natural resources and mining rose by 6,000 in March; the results are in line with the steady growth the industry has recorded over the past year. 
• Since reaching a trough in April 2003, employment in the industry has grown by a third. 

Employment in construction 
1997-2008
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Notes: Shaded area denotes recession. Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

Employment in construction 
Over-the-month change 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Note: Data are preliminary. 

• Employment in construction declined by 51,000 in March with losses concentrated in specialty trade contractors (-42,000). 
• Since peaking in September 2006, employment in the industry has fallen by 394,000. 

Employment in manufacturing 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Notes: Shaded area denotes recession. Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

Employment in motor vehicles and parts 
Over-the-month change, 2007-08 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Note: Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

• Manufacturing employment decreased by 48,000 in March and by 310,000 over the past 12 months. Job losses in manufacturing were heaviest among motor vehicle and parts and construction-related industries. 
• Employment in motor vehicle and parts was down 24,000 in March, largely reflecting the impact of a strike in auto parts manufacturing. The strike resulted in a parts shortage that led to plant shutdowns elsewhere in the auto industry. 

Employment in financial activities 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Notes: Shaded area denotes recession. Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

Employment in selected financial activities 
Over-the-year change, March 2008 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Note: Data are preliminary. 
* Includes additional component industries not shown separately. 

• Employment in financial activities changed little in March. Since its peak in December 2006, the industry has lost 128,000 jobs. 
• Credit intermediation edged down in March. Over the past 12 months, credit intermediation employment has declined by 101,000. 

Employment in professional and business services 
Over-the-month change, 2007-08 
Seasonally adjusted in thousands 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008. 
Note: Most recent two months of data are preliminary. 

Employment in selected professional and business services
Over-the-month change, March 2008
Seasonally adjusted in thousands

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008.
Note: Data are preliminary.

• In March, employment in professional and business services shed 35,000 positions. In the first quarter of 2008, the industry lost 95,000 jobs after gaining 131,000 in the last quarter of 2007.
• Professional and technical services employment showed little change for the third consecutive month, compared to average monthly gains of 27,000 jobs in 2007. 
• Employment services declined by 42,000 in March. On average, the monthly employment losses in first quarter of 2008 were larger than the average over-the-month loss in 2007. Since peaking in August 2006, employment services has lost 210,000 jobs. 

Employment in health care
Over-the-month change, March 2008
Seasonally adjusted in thousands

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics survey, April 4, 2008.
Note: Data are preliminary.
* Includes additional component industries not shown separately.

• Health care continued to expand in March, rising by 23,000 employees. Hospitals accounted for the majority of the job gains, growing by 14,000. Over the past 12 months, health care has added 363,000 jobs. 

source: 4apr2008