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, July 8, 2016


     Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 287,000 in June, 
after changing little in May (+11,000). The unemployment rate 
rose to 4.9 percent in June. Job gains occurred in leisure and 
hospitality, health care and social assistance, and financial 
activities. Employment in information also increased, largely 
due to the return of workers from a strike.

     Incorporating revisions for April and May, which reduced 
nonfarm payroll employment by 6,000 on net, monthly job gains 
have averaged 147,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months 
prior to June, employment growth averaged 199,000 per month. 

     In June, employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 
59,000, after changing little in the prior month. Employment 
rose in performing arts and spectator sports in June (+14,000), 
after edging down in May. Employment changed little in food 
services and drinking places in June (+22,000). Job gains in 
leisure and hospitality have averaged 27,000 per month in the 
first half of the year, down from an average of 37,000 per month 
in 2015, reflecting slower job growth in food services and 
drinking places.

     Employment in health care and social assistance increased 
by 58,000 in June. Health care added 39,000 jobs over the month, 
with gains in ambulatory health care services (+19,000) and 
hospitals (+15,000). Within social assistance, child day care 
services added 15,000 jobs.

     Employment in financial activities grew by 16,000 in June, 
in line with recent job growth in the industry. 

     Information employment rose by 44,000 in June. Employment 
rose in telecommunications (+28,000), largely reflecting the 
return of workers from a strike. Motion picture and sound 
recording industries added 11,000 jobs over the month, following 
a loss of similar magnitude in May.

     Employment in professional and business services continued 
to trend up in June (+38,000). Thus far this year, the industry 
has added an average of 30,000 jobs per month, compared with an 
average monthly gain of 52,000 in 2015.

     Retail trade employment edged up by 30,000 in June, 
following 2 months of essentially no employment growth. In June, 
job gains occurred in general merchandise stores (+9,000) and in 
health and personal care stores (+5,000). Employment in retail 
trade has increased by 313,000 over the year.

     Mining employment continued to trend down in June 
(-6,000). The industry has lost 211,000 jobs since the recent 
peak in September 2014. Three-fourths of the job losses over 
this period have been in support activities for mining.

     Average hourly earnings of all employees on private 
nonfarm payrolls edged up by 2 cents in June to $25.61. Over the 
past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.6 
percent. From May 2015 to May 2016, the Consumer Price Index for 
All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.1 percent (on a 
seasonally adjusted basis).

     Turning now to data from our survey of households, the 
number of unemployed persons rose by 347,000 to 7.8 million in 
June, and the unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage 
point to 4.9 percent. These increases largely offset declines in 
the prior month, and bring both measures back in line with 
levels that had prevailed since August 2015.

     The number of long-term unemployed--those who had been 
looking for work for 27 weeks or more--changed little in June, 
at 2.0 million. These individuals accounted for 25.8 percent of 
the unemployed.

     Both the labor force participation rate (62.7 percent) and 
the employment-population ratio (59.6 percent) were little 
changed over the month.

     Among the employed, the number of individuals working part 
time for economic reasons declined by 587,000 to 5.8 million in 
June, offsetting an increase in the prior month. (These 
individuals, also referred to as involuntary part-time workers, 
would have preferred full-time employment but were working part 
time because their hours had been cut back or because they were 
unable to find full-time work.)

     Among people who were neither working nor looking for work 
in June, 1.8 million were classified as marginally attached to 
the labor force, little different than a year earlier. The 
number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally 
attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, was 
502,000 in June, down by 151,000 from a year earlier. (The 
marginally attached are individuals who 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 rose by 287,000 in 
June, and the unemployment rate increased to 4.9 percent.