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

Keith Hall

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Labor market weakness persisted in June. The unemployment 

rate remained at 5.5 percent after rising by half a percentage 

point in May. Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend 

down (-62,000) and has fallen by 438,000 in the first half of 

the year, an average of 73,000 per month. In June, job losses 

continued in construction, manufacturing, and employment 

services, while health care and mining added jobs. Average 

hourly earnings rose by 6 cents in June. 

Construction job losses totaled 43,000 in June and were 

spread throughout the industry. Employment in the industry has 

fallen by 528,000 since its September 2006 peak; more than twothirds of the decline (-373,000) occurred since October 2007. 

Manufacturing employment also continued to fall in June

(-33,000); declines were widespread among the component 

industries. Factory job losses averaged 39,000 per month in the 

first half of 2008, compared with average monthly losses of 
2

22,000 in all of 2007. The factory workweek decreased by 0.1 

hour in June to 40.8 hours and has declined by 0.4 hour in the 

last 3 months.

Employment services lost 59,000 jobs in June, with half of 

the decline in temporary help services. Temporary help lost 

154,000 jobs in the first half of 2008, about twice the number 

lost in all of 2007.

Health care employment continued to grow (15,000), although 

the June gain was half the size of the average increase over the 

prior 12 months. Health care added 170,000 jobs in the first 

half of 2008. Employment in food services continued to trend up

over the month, although job growth has slowed markedly since 

last October.

Employment in mining continued to grow in June (8,000) and 

has expanded by 208,000 since reaching a low in April 2003. 

Gains have been concentrated in support activities for mining 

and in oil and gas extraction.

Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory 

workers in the private sector rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, 

in June. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings rose 

by 3.4 percent. From May 2007 to May 2008, the Consumer Price 

Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose 

by 4.4 percent.
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Turning now to data from our survey of households, the 

number of unemployed persons, at 8.5 million, was essentially 

unchanged in June. The unemployment rate held at 5.5 percent in 

June, following an increase of half a percentage point in May

that largely reflected an increase in unemployment among youth 

(16- to 24-year-olds). In June, the jobless rates for young 

people were essentially unchanged.

The civilian labor force was little changed in June, after 

a large increase in May. The labor force participation rate, at 

66.1 percent in June, was essentially unchanged over the month.

The employment-population ratio, at 62.4 percent, also was 

essentially unchanged in June but was down by six-tenths of a 

percentage point from a year earlier. Since June of last year, 

the employment-population ratio for adult men has declined by 

nine-tenths of a percentage point to 71.9 percent, while the 

ratio for adult women, at 58.2 percent, has been about 

unchanged. The number of persons working part time who prefer 

full-time employment was little changed in June at 5.4 million 

but has increased by 1.1 million over the last 12 months.

 In summary, nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend 

down in June, and the unemployment rate held at 5.5 percent.