Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Economic News Release
PRINT:Print

Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press 
under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that 
the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.


                            Statement of

                          Erica L. Groshen
                            Commissioner
                     Bureau of Labor Statistics
                         Friday, June 6, 2014



      Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 217,000 in May, and the 
unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.3 percent. Employment rose 
in professional and business services, health care and social 
assistance, food services and drinking places, and 
transportation and warehousing.
      
      Incorporating the revisions for March and April, which 
decreased total nonfarm employment by 6,000 on net, monthly job 
gains have averaged 234,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 
months prior to May, employment growth averaged 197,000 per 
month.
      
      With the gains in May, payroll employment now exceeds its 
pre-recession level. Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 8.7 
million from January 2008 through February 2010. Since then, 
employment has risen by 8.8 million. 
      
      In May, employment in professional and business services 
rose by 55,000, the same as its prior 12-month average gain. 
Within this industry, employment increased over the month in 
computer systems design and in management and technical 
consulting. Employment in temporary help services continued to 
trend up (+14,000) and has grown by 224,000 over the past year.
      
      Health care and social assistance added 55,000 jobs over 
the month. The health care industry added 34,000 jobs in May, 
twice its average monthly gain for the prior 12 months. Within 
health care, employment rose by 23,000 in May in ambulatory 
health care services (which includes doctors’ offices, 
outpatient care, and home health care) and by 7,000 in 
hospitals. Employment in social assistance rose by 21,000 in 
May, compared with an average monthly gain of 7,000 over the 
prior 12 months.
      
      Employment in food services and drinking places rose by 
32,000 in May. Over the past year, food services has added 
311,000 jobs.
      
      Transportation and warehousing employment increased by 
16,000 in May. Over the prior 12 months, this industry had added 
an average of 9,000 jobs per month. In May, job gains occurred 
in support activities for transportation (+6,000) and in 
couriers and messengers (+4,000).
      
      Manufacturing employment changed little over the month but 
has added 105,000 jobs over the past year. Within the industry, 
durable goods added 17,000 jobs in May and has accounted for the 
net job gain in manufacturing over the past 12 months. 
      
      Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 
payrolls rose by 5 cents in May. Over the past 12 months, 
average hourly earnings have risen by 2.1 percent. From April 
2013 to April 2014, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban 
Consumers (CPI-U) rose by 2.0 percent.
      
	Turning now to our survey of households, the unemployment 
rate was unchanged at 6.3 percent in May, following a decline of 
0.4 percentage point in April. The number of unemployed persons 
remained at 9.8 million in May. Over the year, the unemployment 
rate has declined by 1.2 percentage points, and the number of 
unemployed has decreased by 1.9 million.

      In May, the labor force participation rate was unchanged 
at 62.8 percent. It has shown no clear trend since this past 
October but is down by 0.6 percentage point over the year.

      Among persons who were neither working nor looking for 
work in May, 2.1 million were classified as marginally attached 
to the labor force, about unchanged from a year earlier. (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 697,000 in May, little 
different from a year ago.               

      In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 217,000 in 
May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.3 percent.




Last Modified Date: June 06, 2014