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 1, 2014

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 209,000 in July, and the 

unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 percent. Over the 

month, employment increased in professional and business 

services, manufacturing, retail trade, and construction. 

Incorporating the revisions for May and June, which 

increased total nonfarm employment by 15,000, monthly job gains 

have averaged 245,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months 

prior to July, employment growth averaged 209,000 per month. 

Professional and business services employment rose by 

47,000 in July. Employment continued to trend up across much of 

the industry, including a gain of 9,000 in architectural and 

engineering services. Over the year, employment in professional 

and business services has expanded by 648,000. 
2 

Manufacturing employment rose by 28,000 in July, with 

increases in motor vehicles and parts (+15,000) and in furniture 

(+3,000). 

Employment in retail trade rose by 27,000 in July, with 

small gains spread through much of the industry. In the past 12 

months, retail trade has added 298,000 jobs. 

Construction employment increased by 22,000 in July, with 

residential builders contributing 6,000 of the gain. Elsewhere 

in the goods-producing sector, mining employment rose by 8,000. 

Employment in social assistance was up by 18,000 in July. 

(This industry includes child day care and services for the 

elderly and persons with disabilities.) Health care employment 

changed little over the month, as job gains in ambulatory health 

care services (+21,000) were largely offset by losses in 

hospitals (-7,000) and nursing care facilities (-6,000). 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls edged up by 1 cent to $24.45 in July, following an 

increase of 6 cents in June. Over the 12 months ending in July, 

average hourly earnings rose by 2.0 percent. From June 2013 to 

June 2014, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 

(CPI-U) increased by 2.1 percent. 

Turning to the data from the survey of households, the 

unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in July, little changed over 

the month but down from 7.3 percent a year earlier. 
3 

There were 9.7 million unemployed persons in July, little 

different from June. Over the year, the number of unemployed has 

fallen by 1.7 million. Almost two-thirds of this decline has 

been among the long-term unemployed (those looking for work for 

27 weeks or more). 

The labor force participation rate, at 62.9 percent, 

changed little in July and has been essentially unchanged since 

April. 

The employment-population ratio was unchanged at 59.0 

percent in July. Over the year, this measure has edged up by 0.3 

percentage point. 

Of the 146.4 million people employed in July, 7.5 million 

were employed part time for economic reasons, the same as in the 

prior month. (These individuals, also referred to as involuntary 

part-time workers, would have preferred full-time employment, 

but had their hours cut or were unable to find full-time work.) 

Involuntary part-time employment has declined by 669,000 over 

the past 12 months. 

Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work 

in July, about 2.2 million were classified as marginally 

attached to the labor force, down by 236,000 over the year. 

(These individuals 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.) The number of 
4 

discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who 

believed that no jobs were available for them, was 741,000 in 

July, down by 247,000 from a year earlier. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 209,000 in 

July, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 

percent.