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, July 6, 2007

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 132,000 in June, 

and the unemployment rate held at 4.5 percent. The June 

employment increase followed gains of 122,000 in April and 

190,000 in May, as revised. In the first half of 2007, job 

growth averaged 145,000 per month, compared with an average 

monthly gain of 189,000 in 2006. In June, employment 

increased in several service-providing industries, while 

manufacturing employment continued to decline. 

Within education and health services, health care 

added 30,000 jobs in June; over the past year, employment 

in health care has grown by 371,000. Over the month, 

employment continued to trend up in private education and 

in social assistance. Recently, job growth has picked up 
2

in social assistance; the industry has added 46,000 jobs in 

the 4-month period since February. 

Employment in food services and drinking places 

expanded by 35,000 in June. Thus far in 2007, job gains in 

the industry have averaged 31,000 per month, essentially

the same as the average monthly increase in 2006. 

Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, government 

employment continued to trend higher in June (+40,000). 

Wholesale trade also continued to add jobs (+20,000), with 

gains in both the durable and nondurable components. 

Retail trade employment edged down by 24,000 over the 

month. Employment in department stores was down by 7,000, 

and smaller losses occurred among other retail industries. 

In June, employment was flat in financial activities and in 

information. Employment in professional and business 

services was little changed in June. During the first 6 

months of 2007, job growth in the industry averaged 13,000 

per month compared with an average of 42,000 per month in 

the last half of 2006.

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing 

employment continued to decline in June (-18,000). Job 

gains in machinery and in beverages and tobacco products 

were more than offset by job losses in primary metals, 

computer equipment, wood products, and textile mills. The 
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factory workweek lengthened by 0.2 hour to 41.3 hours, and 

overtime rose by 0.1 hour to 4.3 hours.

Construction employment was little changed in June. 

Since its most recent peak in September 2006, employment in

the industry has declined by 44,000. 

Average hourly earnings for private production and 

nonsupervisory workers increased 6 cents in June to $17.38, 

a gain of 0.3 percent. Over the year, average hourly 

earnings were up by 3.9 percent.

In June, most labor market measures from our survey of 

households showed little or no change. The unemployment 

rate was 4.5 percent for the third consecutive month and 

the third consecutive quarter. The labor force 

participation rate, at 66.1 percent, was little changed

over the month. The employment-population ratio was 63.1 

percent in June, also little changed over the month. 

However, the ratio was 0.3 percentage point below its 

recent high of 63.4 percent in December 2006. The number 

of discouraged workers--persons not in the labor force 

because they believed no jobs were available--declined from 

a year earlier.

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 132,000 

in June, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.5 

percent.