Washington, DC..The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the following this morning. 
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 244,000 in April, and the unemployment rate
edged up to 9.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Job gains occurred in several service-providing industries, manufacturing,
and mining.

Household Survey Data

The number of unemployed persons, at 13.7 million, changed little in
April. The unemployment rate edged up from 8.8 to 9.0 percent over the
month but was 0.8 percentage point lower than in November. The labor
force also was little changed in April. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men
(8.8 percent), adult women (7.9 percent), teenagers (24.9 percent),
whites (8.0 percent), blacks (16.1 percent), and Hispanics (11.8 percent)
showed little change in April. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.4 percent,
not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks increased by
242,000 in April. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for
27 weeks and over) declined by 283,000 to 5.8 million; their share of
unemployment declined to 43.4 percent. (See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate was 64.2 percent for the
fourth consecutive month. The employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent,
changed little in April. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons
(sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little
changed over the month, at 8.6 million. These individuals were working
part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were
unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)

In April, 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,
about the same as a year earlier. (These data are not seasonally adjusted.)
These individuals were not in the labor force, 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. (See table A-16.)

Among the marginally attached, there were 989,000 discouraged workers in
April, a decline of 208,000 from a year earlier. (These data are not
seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently
looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
The remaining 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force
in April had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey
for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.
(See table A-16.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 244,000 in April, and the
private sector added 268,000 jobs. Employment rose in a number of service-
providing industries, manufacturing, and mining. Since a recent low in
February 2010, total payroll employment has grown by 1.8 million. Private
sector employment has increased by 2.1 million over the same period.
(See table B-1.)

In April, employment in retail trade rose by 57,000. Within the industry,
employment in general merchandise stores increased by 27,000, offsetting
a decline of similar magnitude in the prior month. Elsewhere in retail
trade, April job gains occurred in electronics and appliance stores
(+6,000), building material and garden supply stores (+6,000), and
automobile dealers (+5,000).

Employment in professional and business services continued to expand in
April, with an increase of 51,000. Job gains occurred in management and
technical consulting services (+11,000) and in computer systems design
and related services (+8,000). Employment in temporary help services
was little changed over the month, following an increase of 34,000 in March.

Health care continued to add jobs in April (+37,000). Within health care,
job gains continued in ambulatory health care (+22,000) and hospitals
(+10,000).

Employment in leisure and hospitality continued to increase in April
(+46,000). Over the past 3 months, this industry added 151,000 jobs, with
nearly two-thirds of the growth in food services and drinking places.

Employment in both state government and local government continued to trend
down, with April losses concentrated in the non-educational components.
Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, employment in information,
financial activities, and transportation and warehousing changed little
in April.

In the goods-producing sector of the economy, manufacturing employment
rose by 29,000 in April. Since reaching an employment low in December 2009,
manufacturing has added 250,000 jobs, including 141,000 in 2011. Over the
month, employment growth continued in machinery (+5,000), primary metals
(+4,000), and computer and electronic products (+4,000).

Mining added 11,000 jobs in April. More than half of the gain occurred in
support activities for mining. Since a recent low point in October 2009,
employment in mining has increased by 107,000.

Construction employment was about unchanged in April. This industry has shown
little net movement since early 2010, after having fallen sharply during the
prior 3 years.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained
at 34.3 hours in April. The manufacturing workweek for all employees, at
40.4 hours, also was unchanged over the month, while factory overtime
increased by 0.1 hour to 3.3 hours. The average workweek for production
and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in
April at 33.6 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls increased by 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $22.95. Over the past 12
months, average hourly earnings increased by 1.9 percent. In April, average
hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees
rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $19.37. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised
from +194,000 to +235,000, and the change for March was revised from
+216,000 to +221,000.

_____________
The Employment Situation for May is scheduled to be released on Friday,
June 3, 2011, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).

Frequently Asked Questions about Employment and Unemployment Estimates

Why are there two monthly measures of employment?

The household survey and establishment survey both produce sample-based estimates
of employment and both have strengths and limitations. The establishment survey
employment series has a smaller margin of error on the measurement of month-to-
month change than the household survey because of its much larger sample size. An
over-the-month employment change of about 100,000 is statistically significant in
the establishment survey, while the threshold for a statistically significant
change in the household survey is about 400,000. However, the household survey has
a more expansive scope than the establishment survey because it includes the self-
employed, unpaid family workers, agricultural workers, and private household workers,
who are excluded by the establishment survey. The household survey also provides
estimates of employment for demographic groups.

Are undocumented immigrants counted in the surveys?

It is likely that both surveys include at least some undocumented immigrants. However,
neither the establishment nor the household survey is designed to identify the legal
status of workers. Therefore, it is not possible to determine how many are counted in
either survey. The establishment survey does not collect data on the legal status of
workers. The household survey does include questions which identify the foreign and
native born, but it does not include questions about the legal status of the foreign
born.

Why does the establishment survey have revisions?

The establishment survey revises published estimates to improve its data series by
incorporating additional information that was not available at the time of the
initial publication of the estimates. The establishment survey revises its initial
monthly estimates twice, in the immediately succeeding 2 months, to incorporate
additional sample receipts from respondents in the survey and recalculated seasonal
adjustment factors. For more information on the monthly revisions, please visit
www.bls.gov/ces/cesrevinfo.htm.

On an annual basis, the establishment survey incorporates a benchmark revision that
re-anchors estimates to nearly complete employment counts available from unemployment
insurance tax records. The benchmark helps to control for sampling and modeling errors
in the estimates. For more information on the annual benchmark revision, please visit
www.bls.gov/web/cesbmart.htm.

Does the establishment survey sample include small firms?

Yes; about 40 percent of the establishment survey sample is comprised of business
establishments with fewer than 20 employees. The establishment survey sample is
designed to maximize the reliability of the total nonfarm employment estimate; firms
from all size classes and industries are appropriately sampled to achieve that goal.

Does the establishment survey account for employment from new businesses?

Yes; monthly establishment survey estimates include an adjustment to account for
the net employment change generated by business births and deaths. The adjustment
comes from an econometric model that forecasts the monthly net jobs impact of
business births and deaths based on the actual past values of the net impact that
can be observed with a lag from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. The
establishment survey uses modeling rather than sampling for this purpose because the
survey is not immediately able to bring new businesses into the sample. There is an
unavoidable lag between the birth of a new firm and its appearance on the sampling
frame and availability for selection. BLS adds new businesses to the survey twice a
year.

Is the count of unemployed persons limited to just those people receiving
unemployment insurance benefits?

No; the estimate of unemployment is based on a monthly sample survey of households.
All persons who are without jobs and are actively seeking and available to work
are included among the unemployed. (People on temporary layoff are included even if
they do not actively seek work.) There is no requirement or question relating to
unemployment insurance benefits in the monthly survey.

Does the official unemployment rate exclude people who have stopped
looking for work?

Yes; however, there are separate estimates of persons outside the labor force who
want a job, including those who have stopped looking because they believe no jobs
are available (discouraged workers). In addition, alternative measures of labor
underutilization (some of which include discouraged workers and other groups not
officially counted as unemployed) are published each month in The Employment
Situation news release.

How can unusually severe weather affect employment and hours estimates?

In the establishment survey, the reference period is the pay period that includes
the 12th of the month. Unusually severe weather is more likely to have an impact
on average weekly hours than on employment. Average weekly hours are estimated for
paid time during the pay period, including pay for holidays, sick leave, or other
time off. The impact of severe weather on hours estimates typically, but not always,
results in a reduction in average weekly hours. For example, some employees may be
off work for part of the pay period and not receive pay for the time missed, while
some workers, such as those dealing with cleanup or repair, may work extra hours.

In order for severe weather conditions to reduce the estimate of payroll employment,
employees have to be off work without pay for the entire pay period. About half of
all employees in the payroll survey have a 2-week, semi-monthly, or monthly pay
period. Employees who receive pay for any part of the pay period, even 1 hour, are
counted in the payroll employment figures. It is not possible to quantify the effect
of extreme weather on estimates of employment from the establishment survey.

In the household survey, the reference period is generally the calendar week that
includes the 12th of the month. Persons who miss the entire week’s work for weather-
related events are counted as employed whether or not they are paid for the time off.
The household survey collects data on the number of persons who usually work full
time but had reduced hours, or had a job but were not at work due to bad weather.
Current and historical data are available on the household survey’s most requested
statistics page at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ln.

Technical Note

   This news release presents statistics from two major surveys, the
Current Population Survey (household survey) and the Current Employment
Statistics survey (establishment survey). The household survey provides
information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment that appears
in the "A" tables, marked HOUSEHOLD DATA. It is a sample survey of about
60,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS). 

   The establishment survey provides information on employment, hours,
and earnings of employees on nonfarm payrolls; the data appear in the
"B" tables, marked ESTABLISHMENT DATA. BLS collects these data each
month from the payroll records of a sample of nonagricultural business
establishments. The sample includes about 140,000 businesses and government
agencies representing approximately 440,000 worksites and is drawn from a
sampling frame of roughly 9 million unemployment insurance tax accounts.
The active sample includes approximately one-third of all nonfarm payroll
employees. 

   For both surveys, the data for a given month relate to a particular week
or pay period. In the household survey, the reference period is generally
the calendar week that contains the 12th day of the month. In the establishment
survey, the reference period is the pay period including the 12th, which
may or may not correspond directly to the calendar week.

Coverage, definitions, and differences between surveys

   Household survey. The sample is selected to reflect the entire
civilian noninstitutional population. Based on responses to a series
of questions on work and job search activities, each person 16 years
and over in a sample household is classified as employed, unemployed,
or not in the labor force.

   People are classified as employed if they did any work at all as paid
employees during the reference week; worked in their own business,
profession, or on their own farm; or worked without pay at least 15
hours in a family business or farm. People are also counted as employed
if they were temporarily absent from their jobs because of illness, bad
weather, vacation, labor-management disputes, or personal reasons.

   People are classified as unemployed if they meet all of the following
criteria: they had no employment during the reference week; they were
available for work at that time; and they made specific efforts to find
employment sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference
week. Persons laid off from a job and expecting recall need not be
looking for work to be counted as unemployed. The unemployment data
derived from the household survey in no way depend upon the eligibility
for or receipt of unemployment insurance benefits.

   The civilian labor force is the sum of employed and unemployed persons.
Those not classified as employed or unemployed are not in the labor
force. The unemployment rate is the number unemployed as a percent of
the labor force. The labor force participation rate is the labor force
as a percent of the population, and the employment-population ratio is
the employed as a percent of the population. Additional information about
the household survey can be found at www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm.

   Establishment survey. The sample establishments are drawn from private
nonfarm businesses such as factories, offices, and stores, as well as
from federal, state, and local government entities. Employees on nonfarm
payrolls are those who received pay for any part of the reference pay
period, including persons on paid leave. Persons are counted in each job
they hold. Hours and earnings data are produced for the private sector
for all employees and for production and nonsupervisory employees.
Production and nonsupervisory employees are defined as production and
related employees in manufacturing and mining and logging, construction
workers in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in private service-
providing industries. 

   Industries are classified on the basis of an establishment’s principal
activity in accordance with the 2007 version of the North American Industry
Classification System. Additional information about the establishment survey
can be found at www.bls.gov/ces/#technical.

   Differences in employment estimates. The numerous conceptual and
methodological differences between the household and establishment
surveys result in important distinctions in the employment estimates
derived from the surveys. Among these are:

   --The household survey includes agricultural workers, the self-
     employed, unpaid family workers, and private household workers
     among the employed. These groups are excluded from the
     establishment survey.

   --The household survey includes people on unpaid leave among the
     employed. The establishment survey does not.

   --The household survey is limited to workers 16 years of age and
     older. The establishment survey is not limited by age.

   --The household survey has no duplication of individuals, because
     individuals are counted only once, even if they hold more than one
     job. In the establishment survey, employees working at more than
     one job and thus appearing on more than one payroll are counted
     separately for each appearance.

Seasonal adjustment

   Over the course of a year, the size of the nation's labor force and
the levels of employment and unemployment undergo regularly occurring
fluctuations. These events may result from seasonal changes in weather,
major holidays, and the opening and closing of schools. The effect of
such seasonal variation can be very large.

   Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern
each year, their influence on the level of a series can be tempered by
adjusting for regular seasonal variation. These adjustments make
nonseasonal developments, such as declines in employment or increases
in the participation of women in the labor force, easier to spot. For
example, in the household survey, the large number of youth entering
the labor force each June is likely to obscure any other changes that
have taken place relative to May, making it difficult to determine if
the level of economic activity has risen or declined. Similarly, in
the establishment survey, payroll employment in education declines by
about 20 percent at the end of the spring term and later rises with
the start of the fall term, obscuring the underlying employment trends
in the industry. Because seasonal employment changes at the end and
beginning of the school year can be estimated, the statistics can be
adjusted to make underlying employment patterns more discernable.  The
seasonally adjusted figures provide a more useful tool with which to
analyze changes in month-to-month economic activity.

   Many seasonally adjusted series are independently adjusted in both
the household and establishment surveys. However, the adjusted series
for many major estimates, such as total payroll employment, employment
in most major sectors, total employment, and unemployment are computed
by aggregating independently adjusted component series. For example,
total unemployment is derived by summing the adjusted series for four
major age-sex components; this differs from the unemployment estimate
that would be obtained by directly adjusting the total or by combining
the duration, reasons, or more detailed age categories.

   For both the household and establishment surveys, a concurrent
seasonal adjustment methodology is used in which new seasonal factors
are calculated each month using all relevant data, up to and including
the data for the current month. In the household survey, new seasonal
factors are used to adjust only the current month's data. In the
establishment survey, however, new seasonal factors are used each month
to adjust the three most recent monthly estimates. The prior 2 months
are routinely revised to incorporate additional sample reports and
recalculated seasonal adjustment factors. In both surveys, 5-year revisions
to historical data are made once a year.

Reliability of the estimates

   Statistics based on the household and establishment surveys are
subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. When a sample rather
than the entire population is surveyed, there is a chance that the
sample estimates may differ from the "true" population values they
represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies depending
on the particular sample selected, and this variability is measured by
the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance,
or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ
by no more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true" population value
because of sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the
90-percent level of confidence.

   For example, the confidence interval for the monthly change in
total nonfarm employment from the establishment survey is on the order
of plus or minus 100,000. Suppose the estimate of nonfarm employment
increases by 50,000 from one month to the next. The 90-percent confidence
interval on the monthly change would range from -50,000 to +150,000
(50,000 +/- 100,000). These figures do not mean that the sample results
are off by these magnitudes, but rather that there is about a 90-percent
chance that the "true" over-the-month change lies within this interval.
Since this range includes values of less than zero, we could not say with
confidence that nonfarm employment had, in fact, increased that month.
If, however, the reported nonfarm employment rise was 250,000, then all
of the values within the 90-percent confidence interval would be greater
than zero. In this case, it is likely (at least a 90-percent chance) that
nonfarm employment had, in fact, risen that month. At an unemployment rate
of around 5.5 percent, the 90-percent confidence interval for the monthly
change in unemployment as measured by the household survey is about
+/- 280,000, and for the monthly change in the unemployment rate it is
about +/-0.19 percentage point.

   In general, estimates involving many individuals or establishments
have lower standard errors (relative to the size of the estimate) than
estimates which are based on a small number of observations. The precision
of estimates also is improved when the data are cumulated over time, such
as for quarterly and annual averages.

   The household and establishment surveys are also affected by
nonsampling error, which can occur for many reasons, including the failure
to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain information
for all respondents in the sample, inability or unwillingness of
respondents to provide correct information on a timely basis, mistakes
made by respondents, and errors made in the collection or processing of
the data.

   For example, in the establishment survey, estimates for the most
recent 2 months are based on incomplete returns; for this reason, these
estimates are labeled preliminary in the tables. It is only after two
successive revisions to a monthly estimate, when nearly all sample
reports have been received, that the estimate is considered final.

   Another major source of nonsampling error in the establishment survey
is the inability to capture, on a timely basis, employment generated by
new firms. To correct for this systematic underestimation of employment
growth, an estimation procedure with two components is used to account
for business births. The first component excludes employment losses from
business deaths from sample-based estimation in order to offset the
missing employment gains from business births. This is incorporated into
the sample-based estimation procedure by simply not reflecting sample
units going out of business, but imputing to them the same employment
trend as the other firms in the sample. This procedure accounts for most
of the net birth/death employment.

   The second component is an ARIMA time series model designed to estimate
the residual net birth/death employment not accounted for by the
imputation. The historical time series used to create and test the ARIMA
model was derived from the unemployment insurance universe micro-level
database, and reflects the actual residual net of births and deaths over
the past 5 years.

   The sample-based estimates from the establishment survey are adjusted
once a year (on a lagged basis) to universe counts of payroll employment
obtained from administrative records of the unemployment insurance program.
The difference between the March sample-based employment estimates and
the March universe counts is known as a benchmark revision, and serves as
a rough proxy for total survey error. The new benchmarks also incorporate
changes in the classification of industries. Over the past decade, absolute
benchmark revisions  for total nonfarm employment have averaged 0.3 percent,
with a range from -0.7 to 0.6 percent.

Other information

   Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay
Service: (800) 877-8339.