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Washington, DC, United States, 07/08/2005 – Nonfarm employment increased by 146,000 in June, and the unemployment rate continued to trend down, reaching 5.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the month, payroll employment continued to grow in several industries, notably professional and business services and health care.
The jobless rate in June was 5.0 percent, seasonally adjusted. It has trended downward since February 2005 and is now 1.3 percentage points lower than its most recent high in June 2003. The number of unemployed persons was little changed over the month at 7.5 million, but is down by 1.7 million since June 2003.
In June, 1.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, compared with 1.5 million a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.
They were not counted as unemployed, however, because they did not actively search for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. There were 476,000 discouraged workers in June, essentially the same as a year earlier.
Among other service-providing industries, financial activities employment edged up over the month, as credit intermediation and real estate showed continued strength. Employment in food services edged up in June after showing little change in May. Employment in child day care services rose by 8,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis in June, as layoffs were lighter than usual.
Employment in warehousing and storage rose by 6,000. Air transportation continued to lose jobs, declining by 3,000 over the month.
In June, manufacturing employment fell by 24,000. Motor vehicles and parts lost 18,000 jobs over the month. Job losses in nondurable goods manufacturing were small but widespread, totaling 12,000. These declines were partially offset by a gain of 7,000 in computer and electronic products. Elsewhere in the goods-producing sector, both mining and construction employment continued to trend up over the month.
Source: Labor Force Statistics
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