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
       
                      William J. Wiatrowski
                       Acting Commissioner
                   Bureau of Labor Statistics

                      Friday, July 7, 2017


      Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 222,000 in June, 
and the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, was little changed. 
Job gains occurred in health care, social assistance, financial 
activities, and mining.
      
      Incorporating revisions for April and May, which increased 
nonfarm payroll employment by 47,000, monthly job gains have 
averaged 194,000 over the past 3 months.
      
      In June, health care employment rose by 37,000. Job gains 
occurred in ambulatory health care services (+26,000) and 
hospitals (+12,000). Job growth in health care has averaged 
24,000 per month for the first half of 2017, compared with an 
average monthly gain of 32,000 in 2016.
      
      The social assistance industry added 23,000 jobs in June 
and has added 115,000 jobs over the year. Employment continued 
to trend up in individual and family services (+12,000) and in 
child day care services (+8,000).
      
      Employment in financial activities rose by 17,000 in June, 
with a gain in securities, commodity contracts, and investments 
(+5,000). Financial activities has added 169,000 jobs over the 
past 12 months.
      
      In June, mining employment increased by 8,000. Since a 
recent low point last October, mining has added 56,000 jobs, 
with most of the gain in support activities for mining.
      
      Employment in professional and business services continued 
to trend up in June (+35,000). This industry has added 624,000 
jobs over the past year.
      
      Employment in food services and drinking places also 
continued to trend up over the month (+29,000). Job gains have 
averaged 26,000 per month thus far in 2017, in line with the 
average monthly job gain in 2016.
      
      Employment in other major industries--construction, 
manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and 
warehousing, information, and government--showed little change 
over the month.
      
      Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 
payrolls increased by 4 cents to $26.25 in June. Over the past 
12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent. 
From May 2016 to May 2017, the Consumer Price Index for All 
Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.9 percent (on a 
seasonally adjusted basis).
      
      The major labor market indicators from the survey of 
households changed little in June. The unemployment rate, at 4.4 
percent, changed little over the month but is down by 0.4 
percentage point since January. The number of unemployed people, 
at 7.0 million, was about unchanged in June.
      
      Among the unemployed in June, 1.7 million had been 
searching for work 27 weeks or longer. These long-term 
unemployed accounted for 24.3 percent of the total unemployed.
      
      The labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, was 
little changed in June and has shown no clear trend over the 
past year. The employment-population ratio, at 60.1 percent in 
June, also changed little. This ratio has held fairly steady 
during the first half of this year.
      
      Among the employed, the number working part time for 
economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary part-time 
workers, was little changed at 5.3 million in June.
      
      Among those neither working nor looking for work in June, 
      
1.6 million people were marginally attached to the labor force, 
down by 197,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers, a 
subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were 
available for them, numbered 514,000 in June, little different 
from a year earlier. (People who are marginally attached to the 
labor force 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.)

      In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 222,000 
in June, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 
percent.