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                        Statement of
                              
                       Philip L. Rones
                     Deputy Commissioner
                 Bureau of Labor Statistics
                              
                    Friday, July 6, 2007


     Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 132,000 in June, and
the unemployment rate held at 4.5 percent.  The June
employment increase followed gains of 122,000 in April and
190,000 in May, as revised.  In the first half of 2007, job
growth averaged 145,000 per month, compared with an average
monthly gain of 189,000 in 2006.  In June, employment
increased in several service-providing industries, while
manufacturing employment continued to decline.

     Within education and health services, health care added
30,000 jobs in June; over the past year, employment in
health care has grown by 371,000.  Over the month, employ-
ment continued to trend up in private education and in
social assistance.  Recently, job growth has picked up in
social assistance; the industry has added 46,000 jobs in the
4-month period since February.

     Employment in food services and drinking places
expanded by 35,000 in June.  Thus far in 2007, job gains in
the industry have averaged 31,000 per month, essentially the
same as the average monthly increase in 2006.

     Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, government
employment continued to trend higher in June (+40,000).
Wholesale trade also continued to add jobs (+20,000), with
gains in both the durable and nondurable components.  Retail
trade employment edged down by 24,000 over the month.
Employment in department stores was down by 7,000, and
smaller losses occurred among other retail industries.  In
June, employment was flat in financial activities and in
information.  Employment in professional and business
services was little changed in June.  During the first 6
months of 2007, job growth in the industry averaged 13,000
per month compared with an average of 42,000 per month in
the last half of 2006.
     
     In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing employment
continued to decline in June (-18,000).  Job gains in
machinery and in beverages and tobacco products were more
than offset by job losses in primary metals, computer
equipment, wood products, and textile mills.  The factory
workweek lengthened by 0.2 hour to 41.3 hours, and overtime
rose by 0.1 hour to 4.3 hours.

     Construction employment was little changed in June.
Since its most recent peak in September 2006, employment in
the industry has declined by 44,000.

     Average hourly earnings for private production and
nonsupervisory workers increased 6 cents in June to $17.38,
a gain of 0.3 percent.  Over the year, average hourly
earnings were up by 3.9 percent.

     In June, most labor market measures from our survey of
households showed little or no change.  The unemployment
rate was 4.5 percent for the third consecutive month and the
third consecutive quarter.  The labor force participation
rate, at 66.1 percent, was little changed over the month.
The employment-population ratio was 63.1 percent in June,
also little changed over the month.  However, the ratio was
0.3 percentage point below its recent high of 63.4 percent
in December 2006.  The number of discouraged workers--
persons not in the labor force because they believed no jobs
were available--declined from a year earlier.

     In summary, nonfarm payroll employment rose by 132,000
in June, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.5
percent.