Employment Blog July 2017

By Stephen Singer, July 20, 2017

This information is from the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 222,000 in June, and the unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, was little changed. Job gains occurred in health care, social assistance, financial activities, and mining. Incorporating revisions for April and May, which increased non-farm payroll employment by 47,000, monthly job gains have averaged 194,000 over the past 3 months. This information is summarized in Charts 1 and 2 below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In

June, health care employment rose by 37,000. Job gains occurred in ambulatory health care services (+26,000) and hospitals (+12,000). Job growth in health care has averaged 24,000 per month for the first half of 2017, compared with an average monthly gain of 32,000 in 2016.

The social assistance industry added 23,000 jobs in June and has added 115,000 jobsover the year. Employment continued to trend up in individual and family services (+12,000) and in child day care services (+8,000).

Employment in financial activities rose by 17,000 in June, with a gain in securities, commodity contracts,and investments (+5,000). Financial activities has added 169,000 jobs over the past 12 months.

In June, mining employment increased by 8,000. Since a recent low point last October, mining has added 56,000 jobs, with most of the gain in support activities for mining.

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in June (+35,000). This industry has added 624,000 jobs over the past year.

Employment in food services and drinking places also continued to trend up over the month (+29,000).Job gains have averaged 26,000 per month thus far in 2017, in line with the average monthly job gain in 2016.

Employment in other major industries–construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and government–showed little change over the month.

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 4 cents to $26.25in June. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5 percent.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 1.6 percent. The last 12 months are detailed in Chart 3 below.