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 7, 2013


     Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 in May, and
the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 7.6 percent.
Over the prior 12 months, job gains averaged 172,000 per month.
In May, employment increased in professional and business
services, food services and drinking places, and retail trade.
     
     Employment in professional and business services grew by
57,000 over the month and by 589,000 over the year. In May,
employment continued to trend up in temporary help services
(+26,000), computer systems design (+6,000), and architectural
and engineering services (+5,000).
     
     Food services and drinking places added 38,000 jobs in May.
Employment in the industry has risen by 337,000 in the past 12
months.
     
     Retail trade employment increased by 28,000 in May, as
general merchandise stores continued to add jobs (+10,000). Over
the past 12 months, retail trade has added 258,000 jobs.
     
     In May, health care employment continued to trend up
(+11,000). Job gains in home health care services (+7,000) and
outpatient care centers (+4,000) more than offset a loss in
hospitals (-6,000).
     
     Within government, federal government employment declined by
14,000 in May. Over the past 3 months, federal government
employment has decreased by 45,000.
     
     Employment in other major industries showed little or no
change in May.
     
     Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls changed little in May (+1 cent). Over the past 12
months, average hourly earnings have risen by 46 cents, or 2.0
percent. From April 2012 to April 2013, the Consumer Price Index
for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.1 percent.
     
     Turning now to our survey of households, the unemployment
rate, at 7.6 percent, was essentially unchanged in May and has
shown little movement since February. The number of unemployed
persons, at 11.8 million, was little changed over the month.
     
     The labor force participation rate was essentially unchanged
at 63.4 percent in May. Over the year, the labor force
participation rate has declined by 0.4 percentage point.
     
     The employment-population ratio, at 58.6 percent, was
unchanged in May and has shown little movement, on net, in the
past 12 months.
     
     Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work
in May, 2.2 million were classified as marginally attached to the
labor force, down by 259,000 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 780,000 in May, essentially
unchanged from a year earlier.
     
     In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000
in May, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at
7.6 percent.