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, August 5, 2016


      Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 255,000 in July, and the 
unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent. Job gains 
occurred in professional and business services, health care, and 
financial activities. Employment in mining continued to trend 
down.

      Incorporating revisions for May and June, which increased 
nonfarm payroll employment by 18,000, monthly job gains have 
averaged 190,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months prior 
to July, employment growth averaged 206,000 per month.

      Employment in professional and business services rose by 
70,000 in July, and has risen by 550,000 over the year. Within 
the industry, job gains occurred over the month in computer 
systems design and related services (+8,000) and architectural 
and engineering services (+7,000). Employment also continued to 
trend up in management and technical consulting services 
(+6,000). 

      Health care added 43,000 jobs in July, with gains in 
ambulatory health care services (+19,000), hospitals (+17,000), 
and nursing and residential care facilities (+7,000). Over the 
past 12 months, health care employment has grown by 477,000.

      Employment in financial activities rose by 18,000 in July. 
Over the year, this industry has added 162,000 jobs. 

      Leisure and hospitality employment continued to trend up in 
July (+45,000). Within the industry, employment in food services 
and drinking places changed little (+21,000). Thus far this 
year, food services has added an average of 18,000 jobs per 
month, compared with an average of 30,000 per month in 2015.

      Employment in government edged up in July (+38,000). 

      Mining employment continued to trend down in July (-6,000), 
and has declined by 220,000 since its recent peak in September 
2014. Three-fourths of the job losses since the peak have been 
in support activities for mining.

      Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 
payrolls increased by 8 cents in July to $25.69. Over the past 
12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.6 percent. 
From June 2015 to June 2016, the Consumer Price Index for All 
Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.1 percent (on a 
seasonally adjusted basis).

      Most major labor market measures from the survey of 
households showed little or no movement in July. The 
unemployment rate held at 4.9 percent, and the number of 
unemployed people, at 7.8 million, was essentially unchanged 
over the month. Both measures have shown little movement on net 
since August.

      Among the unemployed in July, 2.0 million, or 27 percent of 
the total, were long-term unemployed--that is, they had been 
looking for work for 27 weeks or more. Long-term unemployment 
has shown little movement on net over the past 13 months. 

      The labor force participation rate was 62.8 percent in 
July, and the employment-population ratio was 59.7 percent. Both 
measures have shown little change in recent months. 

      Among those employed in July, 5.9 million were working part 
time for economic reasons, little changed from 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 July, 2.0 million were marginally attached to the labor 
force, about the same as a year earlier. Discouraged workers, a 
subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were 
available for them, numbered 591,000 in July, also about the 
same as a year earlier. (Marginally attached to the labor force 
refers to those 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 255,000 in 
July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent.