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                        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.
     
     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.

     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.