Construction, Mining Continue Job Gains In June; Manufacturing Flat

The national unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a point in June despite the U.S. adding 222,000 jobs, of which manufacturing only contributed 1,000.

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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its June employment report on Friday, showing that the national unemployment rate increased one-tenth of a point to 4.4 percent in the month despite an additiion of 222,000 jobs added last month compared to only 138,000 in May. Employment growth has averaged 180,000 per month thus far this year, in line with the average monthly gain of 187,000 in 2016.

May's unemployment rate of 4.3 percent was the best mark since May 2003.

Of the major working groups in June:

  • Health care added 37,000 jobs
  • Social assistance added 23,000 jobs
  • Financial activities added 17,000 jobs
  • Securities, commodity contracts, and investments added 5,000 jobs
  • Mining added 8,000 jobs
  • Professional and business services added 35,000 jobs
  • Food services and drinking places added 29,000 jobs

Manufacturing added only 1,000 jobs in June, following a loss of 1,000 jobs in May. Durable goods manufacturing added 9,000, offset by a loss of 8,000 jobs in nondurable goods. June's manufacturing unemployment rate of 3.4 percent was up 0.2 points from May, but down 0.3 points year-over-year.

Wholesale trade added 10,000 jobs in June, while retail added 8,100. Transportation and warehousing added a combined 2,400 jobs.

The biggest manufacturing job gains were in machinery (+3,500), fabricated metal products (+3,000), primary metals (+2,300) and electrical equipment/appliances (+2,800). The biggest losses were in food manufacturing (-3,300), paper/paper products (-2,800) transportation equipment (-2,700) and wood products (-2,200).

Construction added 16,000 jobs in June, led by 18,500 of them in specialty trade contractors (nonresidential +11,000). Building construction lost 4,700 jobs (nonresidential -3,200).

Mining employment grew by 7,900 in June, with 6,900 of the growth in support activities. Since a recent employment low in October 2016, mining has added 56,000 jobs.

Wholesale trade's 10,000 jobs gain in June followed a 2,100 slide in May, with durable goods adding 3,100, nondurable adding 2,800 and electronic markets adding 4,100.

  • Retail trade added 8,100 jobs, with building materials and garden supply stores adding 1,300
  • Warehousing and storage had minimal change in June, losing 800 jobs

The employment report came four days after the Institute for Supply Management's June Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) had a considerable increase of 2.9 percentage points from May to a reading of 57.8, pointing to continued and faster expansion for U.S. manufacturing overall.

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