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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 Thursday, July 3, 2014 Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 288,000 in June, and the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 6.1 percent. Job gains were widespread, led by employment growth in professional and business services, retail trade, food services, and health care. Incorporating the revisions for April and May, which increased total nonfarm employment by 29,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 272,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months prior to June, employment growth averaged 201,000 per month. In June, employment in professional and business services rose by 67,000; the prior 12-month average gain was 53,000 per month. Employment increased in June in management and technical consulting, architectural and engineering services, and computer systems design. Employment in temporary help services continued to trend up (+10,000) and has grown by 216,000 over the past year. Retail trade employment rose by 40,000 in June. Over the prior 12 months, retail added an average of 26,000 jobs per month. In June, job gains occurred in motor vehicle and parts dealers (+12,000), building material and garden supply stores (+8,000), and electronics and appliance stores (+7,000). Employment in food services and drinking places rose by 33,000 in June. Over the year, food services has added 314,000 jobs. Health care added 21,000 jobs in June, in line with its average monthly gain (+18,000) for the prior 12 months. In June, employment continued to trend up in ambulatory health care services (which includes doctors’ offices, outpatient care, and home health care). Transportation and warehousing employment increased by 17,000 in June. Over the prior 12 months, this industry had added an average of 11,000 jobs per month. Couriers and messengers contributed 6,000 jobs in June. Financial activities added 17,000 jobs in June, with about half of the gain in insurance carriers and related activities (+9,000). Over the prior 12 months, financial activities added an average of 5,000 jobs per month. Manufacturing employment rose by 16,000 over the month and by 130,000 over the past year. Durable goods added 17,000 jobs in June and has accounted for almost all of the net job gain in manufacturing over the past 12 months. In June, employment rose in both motor vehicles and parts (+6,000) and in computer and peripheral equipment (+3,000). Wholesale trade employment increased by 15,000 over the month and by 140,000 over the year. Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents in June. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.0 percent. From May 2013 to May 2014, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose by 2.1 percent. Turning now to our survey of households, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point in June to 6.1 percent, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 325,000 to 9.5 million. Over the past 12 months, the unemployment rate has declined by 1.4 percentage points, and the number of unemployed has decreased by 2.3 million. About half of the decline in unemployment over the past year occurred among the long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more). In June, the labor force participation rate was 62.8 percent for the third month in a row. The employment-population ratio, at 59.0 percent, was little changed over the month but was up 0.3 percentage point from a year ago. Among the employed, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons rose by 275,000 to 7.5 million in June. (These individuals would have preferred full-time employment, but had their hours cut or were unable to find full- time work.) The number of these workers is down over the year but has shown no clear trend in recent months. Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work in June, 2.0 million were classified as marginally attached to the labor force, down by 554,000 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 676,000 in June, down by 351,000 from a year ago. In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 288,000 in June, and the unemployment rate declined to 6.1 percent.