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

Kathleen P. Utgoff

Commissioner

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Friday, July 2, 2004

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 112,000 in June, 

following 3 months of larger gains. Since August 2003, 

payroll employment has risen by 1.5 million. The June job 

gains were concentrated in health care and social 

assistance, professional and technical services, and 

transportation and warehousing. Employment in other 

industries was little changed over the month. The 

unemployment rate remained at 5.6 percent in June and has 

been essentially flat since December.

Within the service-providing sector, employment in 

health care and social assistance continued to grow in 

June, with a gain of 30,000. The industry added 174,000 

jobs in the first half of 2004. Over the month, employment 

increased in ambulatory health care services (+11,000) and 

hospitals (+6,000). The child day care services component 

of social assistance added 11,000 jobs.
2

Professional and technical services employment 

increased by 23,000 in June, with small gains in several 

component industries. Since its recent low in August 2003, 

professional and technical services has added 152,000 jobs. 

Transportation and warehousing added 19,000 jobs in 

June and has added 83,000 jobs since its recent low in 

August 2003. Employment in courier and messenger services 

was up by 6,000 in June and by 21,000 in the first half of 

2004. Trucking employment continued its upward trend in 

June.

Elsewhere among the service-providing industries, 

employment in temporary help--which provides workers to 

other industries--continued to trend up in June (+12,000). 

The industry has added 306,000 jobs since its recent low in 

April 2003. Employment was little changed in other 

service-providing industries over the month.

 In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing

employment edged down in June (-11,000), following 4 months 

of small increases totaling 75,000. Employment in 

construction was unchanged in June; the industry added a 

quarter million jobs from its recent low in March 2003 

through May of this year.
3

Average weekly hours of private production or 

nonsupervisory workers decreased by 0.2 hour to 33.6 hours 

in June. The factory workweek fell by 0.3 hour to 40.8 

hours, and overtime was unchanged at 4.6 hours per week.

Average hourly earnings for private production or 

nonsupervisory workers were up by 2 cents over the month, 

following a 4-cent increase in May. Over the year, average 

hourly earnings grew by 2.0 percent.

According to our survey of households, the June 

unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.6 percent. The 

jobless rate has been 5.6 percent in 5 of the 6 months this 

year. Over the month, the number of unemployed persons 

held at 8.2 million, little changed since the end of last 

year. In June, 1.8 million people were unemployed for 27 

weeks or longer. The employment-population ratio was 62.3 

percent in June and has been at or near that level since 

early 2003.

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 

112,000 in June, following larger gains in the prior 3 

months. The unemployment rate held at 5.6 percent in June; 

it has shown essentially no movement since December.