Nonfarm payroll employment increased modestly in June, with 80,000 new jobs reported Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; however, it wasn’t enough to lower the unemployment rate, which remained unchanged at 8.2%.
In June, the number of long-term unemployed, those jobless for 27 weeks or more, was essentially unchanged at 5.4 million. These individuals accounted for 41.9% of the unemployed.
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job was essentially unchanged at 8.2 million.
During the month of June, 2.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, down significantly from 2.7 million a year earlier. 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, but they were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Included in the marginally attached statistics were 821,000 discouraged workers in June, a decline of 161,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.
Professional and business services added more than half of June jobs, 47,000, with temporary help services accounting for 25,000 of the increase.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in June. The manufacturing workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 40.7 hours, and factory nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.8 hours.
In June, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 6 cents to $23.50. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.0%. In June, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 5 cents to $19.74.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for April was revised downward, from +77,000 to +68,000, but the change for May was revised positively in almost the same amount, from +69,000 to +77,000.
