June 2003 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.

Nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in June, while the unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll job losses continued in manufacturing, but were partly offset by employment increases in other industries.

Unemployment (Household Survey Data)

The number of unemployed persons increased by 360,000 in June to 9.4 mil- lion, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.1 to 6.4 percent. Since March, unemployment has increased by 913,000. The rate for adult men edged up for the third month in a row; at 6.1 percent, the jobless rate for this group was 0.8 percentage point higher than in March. The teenage unemployment rate, at 19.3 percent, has trended up since the beginning of the year. Over the month, the unemployment rate for blacks increased to 11.8 percent. Jobless rates for the other major worker groups--adult women (5.2 percent), whites (5.5 percent), and Hispanics (8.4 percent)--showed little change from May. The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In June, there were 2.0 million unemployed persons who had been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer, an increase of 410,000 over the year. They re- presented 21.4 percent of the total unemployed, up from 18.8 percent a year earlier. (See table A-9.)

Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

The civilian labor force increased by 611,000 over the month to 147.1 million. The labor force participation rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 66.6 percent in June. The rate is up from its recent low of 66.2 percent in March. Total employment in June was 137.7 million, and the employment- population ratio was unchanged at 62.3 percent. (See table A-1.)

Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)

In June, 1.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from a year earlier. These individuals wanted and were avail- able 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 478,000 discouraged workers in June, up from 342,000 in June 2002. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. (See table A-13.)

1 Establishment data reflect the conversion to the 2002 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) as the basis for the as- signment and tabulation of economic data by industry, replacing the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. Due to differences in NAICS and SIC structures, NAICS-based data by industry are not comparable to the SIC-based data. 2 Includes other industries, not shown separately. 3 Data relate to private production or nonsupervisory workers. p=preliminary.

Industry Payroll Employment (Establishment Survey Data)

Total nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged (-30,000) in June at 130.0 million. Over the month, job declines continued in manufactur- ing, but were partially offset by gains in construction and some service-pro- viding industries. (See table B-1.)

Manufacturing employment decreased by 56,000 in June, in line with the average job loss over the prior 12 months. Losses occurred across most of the component industries. Since its most recent peak in July 2000, manufacturing employment has fallen by more than 2.6 million. In June, primary metals, fabricated metal products, machinery, and plastics and rubber products each lost about 6,000 jobs. Employment in textile mills and leather products manufacturing also declined in June, continuing their long-term downward trends.

Employment in construction edged up in June, the fourth consecutive monthly gain. Construction has added 101,000 jobs since February, reflecting strength in residential building activity.

Employment in health care and social assistance rose by 35,000 over the month and has increased by 306,000 over the year. In June, ambulatory health care services (including offices of physicians, outpatient care centers, and home health care services) added 24,000 jobs; hospital employment increased by 9,000.

Within professional and business services, employment in the temporary help industry rose by 38,000 in June, following a gain of 44,000 in May. This rise was partly offset by an employment decline in accounting and bookkeeping ser- vices (-24,000). Accounting and bookkeeping experienced a large seasonal buildup for the tax season followed by even larger layoffs. After seasonal adjustment, employment in this industry is down by 36,000 since last November.

In the leisure and hospitality industry, employment edged up in June fol- lowing 4 months of declines. The over-the-month gain was largely in the food services industry.

Employment in transportation and warehousing was little changed at 4.1 mil- lion in June. Within this sector, air transportation employment continued to decline. This industry has lost 123,000 jobs since its peak in March 2001. Both wholesale and retail trade employment edged lower over the month.

The information sector showed little job change in June. Employment within this industry declined in nearly every month since March 2001, losing a total of 434,000 jobs. The telecommunications industry, which shed 7,000 jobs in June, accounted for nearly half of the losses over that period.

Weekly Hours (Establishment Survey Data)

The average workweek for production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls was 33.7 hours for the third consecutive month. The manu- facturing workweek and manufacturing overtime also were unchanged from May, at 40.2 hours and 4.0 hours, respectively. (See table B-2.)

The index of aggregate weekly hours of production or nonsupervisory work- ers on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in June at 98.7 (2002=100). The manufacturing index fell by 0.4 percent over the month to 94.7. (See table B-5.)

Hourly and Weekly Earnings (Establishment Survey Data)

Average hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 3 cents in June to $15.38, seasonally adjusted. Average weekly earnings rose by 0.2 percent over the month to $518.31. Over the year, average hourly earnings grew by 3.0 percent, and average weekly earn- ings increased by 2.1 percent. (See table B-3.)