July 1994 Employment Situation

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain source. Statistical tables, standard technical appendices, administrative material and attendance rosters are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's historical context and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete document.

Job growth continued in July and unemployment was little changed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The number of nonfarm payroll jobs rose by 259,000 over the month, with gains concentrated in services and retail trade. The unemployment rate was 6.1 percent; it had been 6.0 percent in the prior 2 months.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

Both the number of unemployed persons, 8.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 6.1 percent, were about unchanged in July, after seasonal adjustment. The jobless rate had declined by 0.7 percentage point from January to May and has been relatively flat for the past 2 months. (See table A-1.)

The only major worker group that showed a significant change in joblessness in July was adult men, whose unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage point to 5.6 percent, the same rate as in April. Rates for adult women (5.3 percent), teenagers (17.7 percent), whites (5.4 percent), blacks (11.2 percent), and Hispanics (10.1 percent) showed little or no change over the month. (See tables A-1 and A-2.)

The number of persons who were unemployed because they had lost their last jobs or completed temporary jobs increased by 240,000 in July, to 3.9 million. Due to declines earlier in the year, however, that level is still down by about half a million since January. The number of unemployed new entrants to the labor force increased by 125,000 in July, after declining by a similar magnitude in June. (See table A-6.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

Total employment was about unchanged in July at 122.5 million, after seasonal adjustment. The employment-to-population ratio has hovered around 62.2 percent for most of 1994. (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons fell by 360,000 in July to 4.4 million, after seasonal adjustment, while those working part time for noneconomic reasons increased to 18.1 million. (See table A-3.) The number of workers holding two or more jobs in July totaled 7.2 million (not seasonally adjusted), or 5.8 percent of all employed persons (table A-8).

The civilian labor force was about unchanged in July and has shown no net growth thus far this year. As a result, the proportion of the population in the labor force has declined by 0.4 percentage point since January. (See table A-1.)

Discouraged Workers (Household Survey Data)

The number of discouraged workers--persons who want jobs but have given up searching because they do not think they could find work--was 542,000 in July (not seasonally adjusted). An additional 1.3 million former jobseekers reported that they would like to have a job and were available to work in July, but were not currently looking for reasons such as family obligations. (See table A-8.)

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to show strength in July, rising by 259,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. This followed an even larger increase in June. (See table B-1.) So far this year, employment has grown by 2.0 million, a monthly average gain of 279,000.

Employment in the services industries rose by 138,000. About half of this advance took place in business services, with almost two-thirds in personnel supply firms. Health and social services accounted for much of the remaining increase. Weakness in two seasonal industries--amusement and recreation, and hotels--occurred because a late survey week in June picked up some of the job growth normally recorded in July.

Retail trade employment increased by 75,000 in July, with eating and drinking establishments, furniture stores, and food stores accounting for the bulk of the expansion. The transportation and public utilities industry added 14,000 jobs, all in the transportation component. Wholesale trade had a smaller employment increase than it has had in recent months. Employment in finance, insurance, and real estate was flat over the month, as continued job losses in nondepository institutions (primarily among mortgage bankers) offset additional gains in real estate.

Construction employment was up by 25,000 in July (seasonally adjusted), its average increase for the past year. Hiring has slowed, however, compared with the rapid pace in March and April. Mining resumed its pattern of small monthly employment losses.

The number of factory jobs edged up by 6,000 in July, but employment growth was held down as the number of workers on strike (and therefore not on payrolls) rose by 12,000. Among the nondurable goods industries, food processing, printing and publishing, and rubber and plastics had job gains that were partially offset by losses in apparel. Within durables, declines took place in transportation equipment, particularly aircraft and parts, and industrial machinery (due to strikes). There were continued job gains in the furniture industry.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in July at 34.6 hours, seasonally adjusted. The manufacturing workweek fell by 0.1 hour for the third consecutive month to 41.9 hours, which was still half an hour higher than a year earlier. Factory overtime was unchanged over the month at 4.6 hours. (See table B-2.)

As a result of the employment increase, the index of aggregate hours of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls rose 0.4 percent to 129.2 (1982=100) in July. The manufacturing index edged down 0.3 percent to 105.0. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Both average hourly and weekly earnings of private production or nonsupervisory workers on nonfarm payrolls rose 0.4 percent in July, after seasonal adjustment, to $11.12 and $384.75, respectively. Over the year, average hourly earnings increased by 2.8 percent and average weekly earnings by 3.1 percent. (See table B-3.)