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

Thursday, July 3, 2003

The labor market remained sluggish in June. The 

unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent, and total nonfarm 

payroll employment was essentially unchanged. Construction 

and some service-providing industries added jobs. These 

gains, however, were offset by the continuing erosion of 

employment in manufacturing, telecommunications, and air 

transportation, as well as losses in other industries. 

Thus far in 2003, payroll employment has decreased, on net,

by 236,000. 

Manufacturing employment was down by 56,000 in June. 

This is in line with its trend for the prior 12 months. 

Nearly all manufacturing industries have been shedding jobs 

for more than 2 years, and total factory employment has 

declined by 2.6 million since its most recent peak in July 

2000. Over the month, manufacturing job losses were 
2

widespread, with notable declines in primary metals, 

fabricated metals, machinery, textile mills, and plastics. 

Manufacturing hours and overtime were unchanged.

 Employment in several other industries continued to 

trend down in June. Job losses occurred in the air 

transportation and telecommunications industries. Since 

March 2001, these industries have lost 123,000 and 202,000 

jobs, respectively. In June, employment in wholesale and

retail trade continued to wane; in retail, this decline 

occurred despite a job gain in building material and garden 

supply stores. 

Elsewhere in the economy, employment in construction 

edged up in June for the fourth month in a row. Since 

February, the number of jobs in the industry has increased 

by 101,000. Within construction, residential building 

activity has been buoyed by low interest rates. These low 

rates also have benefited the credit intermediation 

industry, which includes mortgage banking. Employment in 

the credit industry continued to trend up in June and has 

risen by 249,000 since July 2000.

Job growth also continued in health care and social 

assistance; the industry has added 306,000 jobs over the 

year. In June, the largest employment gain was in 

ambulatory health care services (24,000). This industry 
3

includes offices of physicians, outpatient care centers, 

and home health care services. Employment in educational 

services was little changed over the month. Over the past 

year, the industry added 44,000 jobs, one quarter the 

number gained in the prior 12 months.

 In the leisure and hospitality sector, food services 

employment edged up in June and has increased by 139,000 

over the past year. Employment in accommodations and in 

amusements, gambling, and recreation was little changed 

over the month.

 In professional and business services, the overall job 

total was essentially unchanged in June. Employment rose 

by 38,000 in the temporary help industry, following a gain 

of 44,000 in May. June’s increase in temporary help 

employment, however, was offset by employment declines in 

accounting services and in other professional and business 

service industries. Accounting and bookkeeping experienced 

a large seasonal buildup for the tax season followed by 

even larger layoffs. After seasonal adjustment, employment 

in this industry was down 36,000 from last November.

 Turning to the data from our household survey, the 

unemployment rate increased to 6.4 percent in June. From 

the end of 2001 through the first quarter of this year, the 

jobless rate held at or near 5.8 percent. In the second 
4

quarter of the year, however, the rate has trended upward. 

This movement in unemployment has coincided with an 

increase in the labor force participation rate from its 

recent low of 66.2 percent in March to 66.6 percent in 

June. 

 In recent months, jobless rates have increased for 

adult men and teenagers. The rate for adult men, 6.1 

percent in June, is 0.8 percentage point higher than in 

March. The teenage unemployment rate, at 19.3 percent, is 

up 2.5 percentage points since January. Over the month, 

the unemployment rate for blacks rose to 11.8 percent. 

Overall, nearly 9.4 million people were unemployed in June, 

about a fifth of whom had been unemployed for more than 6 

months.

 In summary, the labor market remained weak in June. 

Job gains in construction, health care, and temporary help 

services were offset by continued losses in manufacturing 

and some other industries. The unemployment rate increased 

to 6.4 percent.