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 

Kathleen P. Utgoff 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, July 8, 2005 

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 146,000 in June, 

and the unemployment rate, at 5.0 percent, continued its 

recent downward trend. Payroll employment has increased by 

2.1 million over the year. In June, job growth continued 

in several industries, with notable gains in professional 

and business services and in health care. Manufacturing 

employment declined over the month. 

 Professional and business services added 56,000 jobs 

in June and nearly half a million over the year. 

Employment continued to trend upward in several component 

industries, including architectural and engineering 

services and computer systems design and related services. 

Temporary help services employment was little changed over 

the month; job growth in the industry has slowed since last 

fall. 
2

 Employment in health care continued to expand in June 

with a gain of 25,000. The industry has added 249,000 jobs 

over the year. Over the month, employment rose in 

hospitals and in ambulatory health care services, such as 

doctors’ offices. 

 Employment growth continued in construction in June, 

with a sizable gain (13,000) in heavy construction. 

Construction employment has increased by 282,000 over the 

year. In June, employment in financial activities remained 

on an upward trend and has increased by 151,000 over the 

year. More than half of the over-the-year gain occurred in 

credit intermediation, which rose by 9,000 in June. Real 

estate also has accounted for a substantial portion of the 

job growth in financial activities over the year. 

 Manufacturing employment declined by 24,000 in June. 

The number of factory jobs has decreased by 96,000 since 

August 2004, offsetting gains posted earlier in 2004. The 

June employment decline was concentrated in motor vehicles 

and parts manufacturing, where production cutbacks occurred 

in assembly and parts plants. Job losses also occurred in 

electrical equipment and in paper and paper products. In 

contrast, employment in computer and electronic products 

increased in June. Both the factory workweek, at 40.4 
3

hours, and factory overtime, at 4.4 hours, were unchanged 

over the month. 

Average hourly earnings of private production or 

nonsupervisory workers rose by 3 cents in June to $16.06, 

following a 3-cent increase in May. Over the year, average 

hourly earnings have grown by 2.7 percent. 

 Turning now to our survey of households, the 

unemployment rate has trended down in recent months. At 

5.0 percent in June, the rate was 0.4 percentage point 

lower than in February. During the February—through—June 

period, the employment-population ratio increased from 62.3 

to 62.7 percent. 

The number of long-term unemployed--that is, persons 

unemployed for 27 weeks or more--declined to 1.3 million in 

June. They constituted 17.8 percent of all unemployed 

persons, down from 20.l percent in May. 

 In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 

146,000 in June, and the unemployment rate was 5.0 percent.