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 

William J. Wiatrowski 

Acting Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, July 7, 2017

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 222,000 in June, 

and the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, was little changed. 

Job gains occurred in health care, social assistance, financial 

activities, and mining. 

Incorporating revisions for April and May, which increased

nonfarm payroll employment by 47,000, monthly job gains have 

averaged 194,000 over the past 3 months. 

In June, health care employment rose by 37,000. Job gains 

occurred in ambulatory health care services (+26,000) and 

hospitals (+12,000). Job growth in health care has averaged 

24,000 per month for the first half of 2017, compared with an 

average monthly gain of 32,000 in 2016. 

The social assistance industry added 23,000 jobs in June 

and has added 115,000 jobs over the year. Employment continued 

to trend up in individual and family services (+12,000) and in 

child day care services (+8,000).
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Employment in financial activities rose by 17,000 in June, 

with a gain in securities, commodity contracts, and investments 

(+5,000). Financial activities has added 169,000 jobs over the 

past 12 months.

In June, mining employment increased by 8,000. Since a 

recent low point last October, mining has added 56,000 jobs, 

with most of the gain in support activities for mining.

Employment in professional and business services continued 

to trend up in June (+35,000). This industry has added 624,000 

jobs over the past year. 

Employment in food services and drinking places also 

continued to trend up over the month (+29,000). Job gains have 

averaged 26,000 per month thus far in 2017, in line with the 

average monthly job gain in 2016.

Employment in other major industries--construction, 

manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and 

warehousing, information, and government--showed little change 

over the month. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 4 cents to $26.25 in June. Over the past 

12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent. 

From May 2016 to May 2017, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 1.9 percent (on a 

seasonally adjusted basis). 
3

The major labor market indicators from the survey of 

households changed little in June. The unemployment rate, at 4.4

percent, changed little over the month but is down by 0.4 

percentage point since January. The number of unemployed people, 

at 7.0 million, was about unchanged in June.

Among the unemployed in June, 1.7 million had been 

searching for work 27 weeks or longer. These long-term 

unemployed accounted for 24.3 percent of the total unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, was 

little changed in June and has shown no clear trend over the 

past year. The employment-population ratio, at 60.1 percent in 

June, also changed little. This ratio has held fairly steady 

during the first half of this year.

Among the employed, the number working part time for 

economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers, was little changed at 5.3 million in June.

Among those neither working nor looking for work in June, 

1.6 million people were marginally attached to the labor force, 

down by 197,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers, a 

subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were 

available for them, numbered 514,000 in June, little different 

from a year earlier. (People who are marginally attached to the 

labor force had not looked for work in the 4 weeks prior to the 
4

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 increased by 222,000 

in June, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 

percent.