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

Philip L. Rones

Deputy Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, August 3, 2007

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in 

July (+92,000), and the unemployment rate was essentially 

unchanged at 4.6 percent. Over the first 7 months of 2007, 

job growth has averaged 136,000 per month, compared with an 

average monthly gain of 189,000 in 2006. In July, 

employment rose in several service-providing industries and 

was little changed in the goods-producing industries. 

Average hourly earnings increased by 6 cents, or 0.3 

percent.

Employment in health care and social assistance 

continued to increase in July. The health care industry 

added 36,000 jobs over the month and 377,000 over the year. 

In July, employment gains occurred in doctors’ offices, 

home health care, and hospitals. Over the year, social 

assistance employment rose by 99,000.
2

Within financial activities, credit intermediation 

added 11,000 jobs in July, offsetting a decline of similar 

magnitude in June. On net, employment in credit 

intermediation has been little changed in 2007. In 

contrast, both the insurance and securities industries have 

continued to add jobs. 

Food services employment continued to expand in July, 

rising by 22,000. Job gains in the industry have averaged 

29,000 per month in 2007, about the same as the average 

monthly increase in 2006. Employment in computer systems 

design increased by 15,000 in July. The industry has added 

55,000 jobs thus far in 2007. Wholesale trade employment 

continued to trend up in July. 

Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, employment 

was about unchanged in both retail trade and information. 

Temporary help services employment continued on a downward 

trend; thus far in 2007, employment in the industry has 

declined by 52,000.

In the goods-producing sector, construction employment 

was little changed in July. Since its most recent peak in 

September 2006, employment in the industry has declined by 

75,000. Mining employment continued to trend up in July. 

Manufacturing employment was flat overall and across 

virtually all of its component industries in July. The 
3

factory workweek and overtime hours held at 41.3 and 4.2 

hours, respectively.

Average hourly earnings for private production and 

nonsupervisory workers increased by 6 cents, or 0.3 

percent, in July to $17.45. This increase follows 7-cent 

gains in May and June. Over the year, average hourly 

earnings were up by 3.9 percent.

Most labor market measures from our survey of 

households showed little or no change in July. Both the 

unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were 

essentially unchanged. The jobless rate, at 4.6 percent, 

has held in a narrow range of 4.4 to 4.6 percent since last 

September. There was, however, some change in the 

composition of the unemployed in July. The number of job 

losers and persons who completed temporary jobs rose by 

253,000 to 3.6 million. There also was a sizable increase 

in the number of unemployed persons who had been jobless 

for 27 weeks or more. As a result, their share of the 

unemployed rose from 16.2 percent in June to 18.4 percent 

in July.

Over the month, the labor force participation rate 

remained at 66.1 percent. The employment-population ratio, 

at 63.0 percent, was essentially unchanged, but was 0.4 
4

percentage point below its recent high of 63.4 percent in 

December 2006. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment (+92,000) 

continued to trend up in July, and the unemployment rate 

was essentially unchanged at 4.6 percent.