Transmission of material in this statement is embargoed until 

8:30 a.m. (ET) July 2, 2021. 

Statement of

William W. Beach

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, July 2, 2021

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 850,000 in June, and the 

unemployment rate changed little at 5.9 percent. Notable job 

gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, public and private

education, professional and business services, retail trade, and 

other services. 

Substantial job losses related to the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic first occurred in March (-1.7 million) and April 

(-20.7 million) of 2020. As economic activity resumed,

employment increased by 12.6 million from May through November 

but declined again in December (-306,000) following a surge in 

the number of coronavirus cases. Job growth restarted in January

of this year, and nonfarm payroll employment has increased by 

3.3 million over the past 6 months as the number of vaccinations 

has increased, the number of coronavirus cases has fallen, and 

pandemic-related restrictions have been relaxed. Overall, 

nonfarm payroll employment is up by 15.6 million since April 
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2020. However, employment is down by 6.8 million, or 4.4

percent, from the pre-pandemic employment peak in February 2020.

Leisure and hospitality added 343,000 jobs in June as 

pandemic-related restrictions continued to ease in some parts of 

the country. Job gains continued in food services and drinking 

places (+194,000); accommodation (+75,000); and arts, 

entertainment, and recreation (+74,000). Leisure and hospitality 

has added 1.6 million jobs since January and accounts for about 

half of all the jobs added thus far this year. However, 

employment in the industry is down by 2.2 million, or 12.9 

percent, since February 2020. 

In June, employment increased in local government education 

(+155,000), state government education (+75,000), and private 

education (+39,000). In both public and private education, 

staffing fluctuations due to the pandemic, in part reflecting 

the return to in-person learning and other school-related 

activities, have distorted the normal seasonal buildup and 

layoff patterns, likely contributing to the job gains in June. 

(Without the typical seasonal employment increases earlier,

there were fewer layoffs at the end of the school year, 

resulting in job gains after seasonal adjustment.) These 

variations make it more challenging to discern the current 

employment trends in these industries. Since February 2020, 

employment is down by 414,000 in local government education, by 
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168,000 in state government education, and by 255,000 in private 

education.

Professional and business services added 72,000 jobs in 

June, including 33,000 jobs in temporary help services. 

Employment is down by 633,000 in professional and business 

services since February 2020. 

Employment in retail trade rose by 67,000 in June. Notable 

job gains in clothing and clothing accessories stores (+28,000)

and general merchandise stores (+25,000) more than offset job 

losses in food and beverage stores (-13,000) and health and 

personal care stores (-7,000). Employment in retail trade is 

down by 303,000, or 1.9 percent, since February 2020.

In June, the other services industry added 56,000 jobs, 

with gains in personal and laundry services (+29,000), in 

membership associations and organizations (+18,000), and in 

repair and maintenance (+9,000). Since February 2020, employment 

is down by 297,000 in other services.

Social assistance employment increased by 32,000 in June, 

largely in child day care services (+25,000). Employment in 

social assistance is 236,000 lower than in February 2020.

In June, wholesale trade added 21,000 jobs, with gains in 

both durable goods (+14,000) and nondurable goods (+9,000). 

Since February 2020, employment in wholesale trade is down by 

192,000. 
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In June, employment in mining rose by 10,000, reflecting 

job growth in support activities for mining (+10,000). Mining 

employment is down by 110,000 since a peak in January 2019. 

Employment in manufacturing changed little in June 

(+15,000) and has shown little net movement since March.

Employment in manufacturing is 481,000 below the February 2020 

level.

Employment in transportation and warehousing also was 

little changed in June (+11,000). Employment in couriers and 

messengers fell by 24,000 over the month but is up by 117,000 

since February 2020. Warehousing and storage (+14,000), air 

transportation (+8,000), and truck transportation (+6,000) added 

jobs over the month. Overall, employment in transportation and 

warehousing is 94,000 lower than in February 2020.

Construction employment was about unchanged in June

(-7,000) and has shown little net change thus far this year. In 

June, nonresidential specialty trade contractors (-15,000) and 

heavy and civil engineering construction (-11,000) lost jobs, 

while residential specialty trade contractors (+13,000) gained 

jobs. Employment in construction is down by 238,000 since 

February 2020.

Employment in other major industries--including 

information, financial activities, and health care--showed 

little change over the month.
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In June, the average workweek for all private-sector 

workers declined by 0.1 hour to 34.7 hours. The average workweek 

for manufacturing decreased by 0.2 hour to 40.2 hours.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls increased by 10 cents to $30.40 in June, following 

increases of 13 cents in May and 20 cents in April. The data for 

recent months suggest that the rising demand for labor 

associated with the recovery from the pandemic may have put 

upward pressure on wages. However, because average hourly 

earnings vary widely across industries, the large employment 

fluctuations since February 2020 complicate the analysis of 

trends in average hourly earnings. 

Turning to the labor market indicators from the household 

survey, both the unemployment rate, at 5.9 percent, and the 

number of unemployed people, at 9.5 million, changed little in 

June. These measures have fallen from their April 2020 peaks but 

remain well above their February 2020 levels (3.5 percent and 

5.7 million, respectively).

In June, the unemployment rates for adult men (5.9 

percent), adult women (5.5 percent), teenagers (9.9 percent), 

Whites (5.2 percent), Blacks (9.2 percent), Asians (5.8 

percent), and Hispanics (7.4 percent) showed little or no 

change. 
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Among the unemployed, the number of job leavers increased 

by 164,000 in June to 942,000. The number of people on temporary 

layoff, at 1.8 million, was essentially unchanged over the 

month. This measure is down considerably from a high of 18.0 

million in April 2020 but is 1.1 million higher than in February 

2020. The number of permanent job losers, at 3.2 million, was 

essentially unchanged in June but is 1.9 million higher than in 

February 2020. 

The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more (often 

referred to as the long-term unemployed) increased by 233,000 in 

June to 4.0 million. This measure is up by 2.9 million since 

February 2020. In June, the long-term unemployed accounted for 

42.1 percent of the unemployed. The number of people unemployed 

for less than 5 weeks was little changed over the month at 2.0 

million.

Both the labor force participation rate, at 61.6 percent, 

and the employment-population ratio, at 58.0 percent, were 

unchanged in June. The participation rate has remained within a 

narrow range of 61.4 percent to 61.7 percent since June 2020. 

The participation rate and the employment-population ratio are

1.7 percentage points and 3.1 percentage points lower, 

respectively, than they were in February 2020. 

In June, the number of people who were working part time 

for economic reasons decreased by 644,000 to 4.6 million, 
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reflecting a decline in the number of people whose hours were 

cut due to slack work or business conditions. The number of 

people working part time for economic reasons is down from a 

peak of 10.9 million in April 2020. There were 4.4 million 

people affected by this type of underemployment in February 

2020. 

The number of people not in the labor force who currently 

want a job, at 6.4 million, changed little in June. This measure 

is down from a peak of 9.9 million in April 2020 but is 1.4 

million higher than in February 2020. Among those not in the 

labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally 

attached to the labor force was little changed at 1.8 million in 

June. (People who are marginally attached to the labor force had 

not actively 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 discouraged 

workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that 

no jobs were available for them, was essentially unchanged over 

the month at 617,000. 

As in previous months, some workers affected by the 

pandemic who should have been classified as unemployed on 

temporary layoff in June were instead misclassified as employed 

but not at work. Since March 2020, BLS has published an estimate 

of what the unemployment rate would have been had misclassified 
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workers been included among the unemployed. Repeating this same 

approach, the seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate would 

have been 0.2 percentage point higher than reported. Additional 

information about the misclassification, as well as information 

about response rates for both the household and establishment 

surveys, is available on the BLS website at 

www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-june2021.htm.

Looking at supplemental pandemic-related measures from the 

household survey (these supplemental data are not seasonally 

adjusted), the share of employed people who teleworked in June 

because of the coronavirus pandemic declined by 2.2 percentage 

points to 14.4 percent. These data refer only to employed people 

who teleworked or worked at home for pay at some point in the 

last 4 weeks specifically because of the pandemic; they do not 

include all instances of telework.

In June, the number of people who reported that they had 

been unable to work because their employer closed or lost 

business due to the pandemic--that is, they did not work at all 

or worked fewer hours at some point in the last 4 weeks due to 

the pandemic--fell by 1.7 million to 6.2 million. Among those 

who reported in June that they were unable to work because of 

pandemic-related closures or lost business, 10.0 percent 
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received at least some pay from their employer for the hours not 

worked, little changed from the prior month.

Among those not in the labor force in June, 1.6 million 

people were prevented from looking for work due to the pandemic, 

down from 2.5 million in the prior month. (To be counted as 

unemployed, by definition, individuals must either be actively 

searching for work or on temporary layoff.)

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 850,000 in 

June, and the unemployment rate changed little at 5.9 percent.