I still expect private-sector employment to pick up sharply one of these months.

But other industries lost enough jobs that over all, private-sector employment was almost flat.

By that measure, private-sector employment rose by just 19,000 jobs in the quarter.

The decline brought the city's private-sector employment to about 3 million.

However, the program has never lived up to its lofty goal of training recipients to move into private-sector employment.

Yet workfare jobs have generally been found to teach no new skills and not to lead to private-sector employment.

Independent analysts agree that cutting taxes can have a positive effect on private-sector employment, especially in manufacturing.

In 1995, 4.5 percent of the city's private-sector employment - a total of 131,000 jobs - was directly linked to tourism.

It also had an impact on private-sector employment.

By the summer of 2003, private-sector employment was three million below its 2001 peak.