WASHINGTON (OBV) – The nation’s employment rate experienced a small bump last month with job gains in both state government and health care sectors, but continued job losses in the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics states that nonfarm payroll employment grew by 147,000 jobs in June. The nation has seen an average monthly gain of 146,000 jobs over the past 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
State government jobs increased by 47,000, mostly in education with more than 40,000 jobs filled.
Federal government employment continued to tumble, with 7,000 jobs lost in June. Federal employment is down by 69,000 since peaking in June. It should be noted that employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed in the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s survey.
Health care jobs rose by 39,000 in June, slightly down from the average monthly gain of 43,000 jobs over the prior 12 months.
The nation’s unemployment rate remained in the 4.0–4.2 percent range, dropping from 4.2 percent in May to 4.1 percent in June. There were approximately 7 million unemployed people in June, according to Department of Labor.
However, the number of long-term unemployed — individuals without a job for 27 weeks or more — increased by 190,000 to 1.6 million, accounting for 23.3 percent of all unemployed people.
Unemployment rates for major worker groups in June breaks down as follows:
- 3.6 percent for White Americans
- 6.8 percent for Black Americans
- 3.5 percent for Asian Americans
- 4.8 for Hispanics
- 3.6 percent for adult women
- 3.9 percent for adult men
- 14.4 percent for teenagers
Data shows that approximately 4.5 million people were employed part time for economic reasons in June.
“These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics report states.
The unemployment number did not include 6 million who are not currently in the labor force but want a job.
“These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job,” the report states.
The number of people marginally attached to the labor force rose by 234,000 to 1.8 million in June.
“These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey,” the report states.
Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, increased by 256,000 to 637,000 in June.
