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). 
 

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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 
 

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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 
 

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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.