Washington, DC…Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 in June, and the
unemployment rate declined to 5.3 percent. Employment increased
in professional and business services, health care, retail
trade, financial activities, and in transportation and
warehousing.

Incorporating revisions for April and May, which decreased
nonfarm employment by 60,000, monthly job gains have averaged
221,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months prior to June,
employment growth averaged 250,000 per month.

Employment in professional and business services rose by
64,000 in June, about in line with the average monthly gain of
57,000 over the prior 12 months. In June, employment continued
to trend up in temporary help services (+20,000), architectural
and engineering services (+4,000), and computer systems design
and related services (+4,000).

Health care employment increased by 40,000 in June,
compared with an average gain of 34,000 per month over the prior
12 months. Employment growth was widespread within the industry
in June, with gains in ambulatory health care services
(+23,000), hospitals (+11,000), and nursing and residential care
facilities (+7,000).

Retail trade employment grew by 33,000 in June and has
increased by 300,000 over the past year. General merchandise
stores added 10,000 jobs over the month.

Employment in financial activities rose by 20,000 in June.
Job gains occurred in insurance carriers and related activities
(+9,000) and in securities, commodity contracts, and investments
(+7,000). Employment in commercial banking declined by 6,000
over the month. Financial activities has added 159,000 jobs over
the year, with insurance accounting for about half of the gain.

Transportation and warehousing added 17,000 jobs in June
and 152,000 jobs over the year. Employment in truck
transportation continued to trend up over the month (+7,000).

Within leisure and hospitality, employment continued to
trend up in food services and drinking places in June (+30,000)
and has increased by 355,000 over the year.

Construction employment was unchanged in June. Over the
prior 12 months, job growth had averaged 22,000 per month.
Manufacturing employment changed little for the fifth month in a
row.

Mining employment continued to trend down in June (-4,000);
the industry has lost 71,000 jobs since a recent high in
December 2014.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls were unchanged at $24.95 in June. Over the past 12
months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.0 percent. From
May 2014 to May 2015, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged (on a seasonally adjusted
basis).

Turning now to data from our survey of households, the
unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 5.3
percent in June, and the number of unemployed persons declined
by 375,000 to 8.3 million. The number of long-term unemployed
(those unemployed 27 weeks or more) fell by 381,000 to 2.1
million. These individuals made up 25.8 percent of the
unemployed in June.

The civilian labor force declined by 432,000 in June (on a
seasonally adjusted basis), after increasing by 397,000 in May.
At this time of year, a large number of people move into and out
of employment and unemployment. On a not seasonally adjusted
basis, the net labor force gain in June was unusually low
compared with prior years. As always, we caution against placing
too much emphasis on one month’s data.

The labor force participation rate declined by 0.3
percentage point to 62.6 percent in June. The employment-
population ratio was essentially unchanged in June at 59.3
percent and has shown little movement thus far in 2015.

The number of persons employed part time for economic
reasons, at 6.5 million, was little changed in June. These
individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were
working part time because their hours had been cut back or
because they were unable to find full-time work.

Among people who were neither working nor looking for work
in June, 1.9 million were classified as marginally attached to
the labor force, little changed over the year. These individuals
had not looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but
wanted a job, were available for work, and had looked for a job
within the last 12 months. The number of discouraged workers, a
subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were
available for them, was 653,000 in June, essentially unchanged
from a year earlier.

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 223,000 in
June, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.3 percent.