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, August 3, 2018

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 157,000 in July, and the 

unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent. Job gains occurred 

in professional and business services, in manufacturing, and in 

health care and social assistance. 

Incorporating revisions for May and June, which increased 

nonfarm payroll employment by 59,000, monthly job gains have 

averaged 224,000 over the past 3 months. 

Employment in professional and business services increased 

by 51,000 in July. Within the industry, employment edged up in 

temporary help services (+28,000) and in computer systems design 

and related services (+8,000). Over the year, professional and 

business services has added 518,000 jobs. 

Manufacturing added 37,000 jobs in July. Nearly all of the 

gain occurred in the durable goods component. Employment 

increased in transportation equipment (+13,000), machinery 
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(+6,000), and electronic instruments (+2,000). Over the year, 

manufacturing has added 327,000 jobs, with four-fifths of the 

gain in durable goods industries. 

Employment in health care and social assistance rose by 

34,000 in July. Health care employment continued to trend up 

over the month (+17,000) and has increased by 286,000 over the 

year. Hospitals added 7,000 jobs in July. Within social 

assistance, employment in individual and family services 

increased by 16,000 over the month and by 77,000 over the year. 

Employment continued to trend up in food services and 

drinking places in July (+26,000); the industry has added 

203,000 jobs over the year. 

In July, construction employment also continued on an 

upward trend (+19,000). The industry has added 308,000 jobs over 

the year. 

Overall, employment in retail trade changed little in July 

(+7,000). Job gains occurred in general merchandise stores 

(+14,000), clothing and clothing accessories stores (+10,000), 

and food and beverage stores (+8,000). These employment gains 

were offset by a decline of 32,000 in sporting goods, hobby, 

book, and music stores, reflecting job losses in hobby, toy, and 

game stores. 
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Employment in other major industries--mining, wholesale 

trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial 

activities, and government--showed little or no change in July. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 7 cents in July to $27.05. Over the past 12 

months, average hourly earnings have increased by 2.7 percent. 

From June 2017 to June 2018, the Consumer Price Index for All 

Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased by 2.8 percent (on a 

seasonally adjusted basis). 

Turning now to data from our survey of households, the 

unemployment rate edged down by 0.1 percentage point to 3.9 

percent in July, and the number of unemployed people decreased 

by 284,000 to 6.3 million. These declines were concentrated 

among adult men and largely offset increases in the prior month. 

 Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants to the 

labor force fell by 287,000 to 1.8 million, following an 

increase in June. (Reentrants are people who previously worked 

but were not in the labor force prior to beginning their job 

search.) The number of people searching for work for 27 weeks or 

more, at 1.4 million, was essentially unchanged in July; these 

long-term unemployed accounted for 22.7 percent of the total 

unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate, at 62.9 percent in 

July, was unchanged over the month and over the year. The 
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employment-population ratio, at 60.5 percent, changed little in 

July but has increased by 0.3 percentage point over the year. 

Among the employed, the number of people working part time 

for economic reasons, also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers, was little changed in July at 4.6 million but was down 

by 669,000 over the year. 

Among those neither working nor looking for work in July, 

1.5 million were considered marginally attached to the labor 

force, little different from a year earlier. Discouraged 

workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that 

no jobs were available for them, numbered 512,000 in July, also 

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 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 157,000 

in July, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent.