Washington, DC...Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 280,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 5.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health\r\ncare. Mining employment continued to decline.\r\n\r\nHousehold Survey Data\r\n\r\nIn May, both the unemployment rate (5.5 percent) and the number of\r\nunemployed persons (8.7 million) were essentially unchanged. Both\r\nmeasures have shown little movement since February. (See table A-1.)\r\n\r\nAmong the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men\r\n(5.0 percent), adult women (5.0 percent), teenagers (17.9 percent),\r\nwhites (4.7 percent), blacks (10.2 percent), Asians (4.1 percent),\r\nand Hispanics (6.7 percent) showed little or no change in May. (See\r\ntables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)\r\n\r\nThe number of unemployed new entrants edged up by 103,000 in May but\r\nis about unchanged over the year. Unemployed new entrants are those\r\nwho never previously worked. (See table A-11.)\r\n\r\nThe number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks decreased by\r\n311,000 to 2.4 million in May, following an increase in April. The\r\nnumber of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more)\r\nheld at 2.5 million in May and accounted for 28.6 percent of the\r\nunemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term\r\nunemployed is down by 849,000. (See table A-12.)\r\n\r\nIn May, the civilian labor force rose by 397,000, and the labor force\r\nparticipation rate was little changed at 62.9 percent. Since April\r\n2014, the participation rate has remained within a narrow range of\r\n62.7 percent to 62.9 percent. The employment-population ratio, at\r\n59.4 percent, was essentially unchanged in May. (See table A-1.)\r\n\r\nThe number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes\r\nreferred to as involuntary part-time workers) was about unchanged at\r\n6.7 million in May and has shown little movement in recent months.\r\nThese individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were\r\nworking part time because their hours had been cut back or because\r\nthey were unable to find a full-time job. (See table A-8.)\r\n\r\nIn May, 1.9 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,\r\ndown by 268,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally\r\nadjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and\r\nwere available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the \r\nprior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they\r\nhad not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See\r\ntable A-16.)\r\n\r\nAmong the marginally attached, there were 563,000 discouraged workers\r\nin May, down by 134,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally\r\nadjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work\r\nbecause they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.3\r\nmillion persons marginally attached to the labor force in May had not\r\nsearched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family\r\nresponsibilities. (See table A-16.)\r\n\r\nEstablishment Survey Data\r\n\r\nTotal nonfarm payroll employment rose by 280,000 in May, compared with\r\nan average monthly gain of 251,000 over the prior 12 months. In May,\r\njob gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure\r\nand hospitality, and health care. Employment in mining continued to\r\ndecline. (See table B-1.)\r\n\r\nProfessional and business services added 63,000 jobs in May and\r\n671,000 jobs over the year. In May, employment increased in computer\r\nsystems design and related services (+10,000). Employment continued\r\nto trend up in temporary help services (+20,000), in management and\r\ntechnical consulting services (+7,000), and in architectural and\r\nengineering services (+5,000).\r\n\r\nEmployment in leisure and hospitality increased by 57,000 in May,\r\nfollowing little change in the prior 2 months. In May, employment\r\nedged up in arts, entertainment, and recreation (+29,000). Employment\r\nin food services and drinking places has shown little net change over\r\nthe past 3 months.\r\n\r\nHealth care added 47,000 jobs in May. Within the industry, employment\r\nin ambulatory care services (which includes home health care services\r\nand outpatient care centers) rose by 28,000. Hospitals added 16,000\r\njobs over the month. Over the past year, health care has added 408,000\r\njobs.\r\n\r\nEmployment in retail trade edged up in May (+31,000). Over the prior\r\n12 months, the industry had added an average of 24,000 jobs per month.\r\nWithin retail trade, automobile dealers added 8,000 jobs in May. \r\n\r\nConstruction employment continued to trend up over the month (+17,000)\r\nand has increased by 273,000 over the past year.\r\n\r\nIn May, employment continued on an upward trend in transportation and\r\nwarehousing (+13,000). Truck transportation added 9,000 jobs over the\r\nmonth.\r\n\r\nIn May, employment continued to trend up in financial activities (+13,000).\r\nOver the past 12 months, the industry has added 160,000 jobs, with\r\nabout half of the gain in insurance carriers and related activities.\r\n\r\nEmployment in mining fell for the fifth month in a row, with a decline\r\nof 17,000 in May. The loss was in support activities for mining.\r\nEmployment in mining has decreased by 68,000 thus far this year, after\r\nincreasing by 41,000 in 2014.\r\n\r\nEmployment in other major industries, including manufacturing, wholesale\r\ntrade, information, and government, showed little change over the month.\r\n\r\nThe average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls\r\nremained at 34.5 hours in May. The manufacturing workweek was unchanged\r\nat 40.7 hours, and factory overtime remained at 3.3 hours. The average\r\nworkweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm\r\npayrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)\r\n\r\nIn May, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm\r\npayrolls rose by 8 cents to $24.96. Over the year, average hourly\r\nearnings have risen by 2.3 percent. Average hourly earnings of private-\r\nsector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 6 cents to $20.97\r\nin May. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)\r\n\r\nThe change in total nonfarm payroll employment for March was revised\r\nfrom +85,000 to +119,000, and the change for April was revised from\r\n+223,000 to +221,000. With these revisions, employment gains in March\r\nand April combined were 32,000 more than previously reported. Over the\r\npast 3 months, job gains have averaged 207,000 per month.\r\n\r\n_____________\r\nThe Employment Situation for June is scheduled to be released on\r\nThursday, July 2, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/p>\n