The U.S. economy added 213,000 jobs in June, according to the monthly employment report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This seasonally adjusted figure is 12.7 percent lower than May’s revised addition of 244,000 jobs, and marks an 11 percent decrease from last June, when 239,000 jobs were created. This number exceeds economists’ expectations that 195,000 jobs would have been added last month.
In June, the unemployment rate increased by 0.2 points to 4 percent, and the number of unemployed persons increased by 499,000 to 6.6 million.
Average hourly earnings for employees on private non-farm payrolls increased by 5 cents in June to $26.98, a 72-cent (or 2.7-percent) increase from a year prior.
In June, overall construction industry employment increased by 13,000 positions, to a total of 7.22 million jobs. Since last year, construction employment has risen by 282,000 positions. Employment related to the construction of nonresidential buildings fell by 200 positions last month, while the number of positions in residential construction rose by 3,900, resulting in a relatively unchanged total of 1.6 million total jobs. In heavy and civil engineering, the number of positions increased by 6,100, while employment of specialty trade contractors increased by 3,200 positions.
Employment in the manufacturing industry rose by 36,000 jobs in June, with gains attributable to an increase of 32,000 jobs in durable goods industries, which accounted for the largest share of employment gains in manufacturing.
Meanwhile, payrolls in architectural and engineering services increased by 6,800 jobs in June, to a rounded total of 1.47 million positions.
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