WASHINGTON – The U.S. unemployment rate barely changed in June as it fell to 4.0 percent – down one-tenth of a percent from May – according to a report issued July 7 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The jobless rate is near the record 3.9 percent recorded in April, and it has been in a 3.9- to 4.1-percent range since October 1999.
Private-sector payroll employment rose by 206,000, following a decline of 165,000 in May. The June increase in private payrolls was largely offset by a decline in federal government employment, as 190,000 temporary workers hired for the 2000 census completed their work, said BLS.
Average hourly earnings increased by 5 cents over the month and by 3.6 percent over the year.
Unemployment rates for the major worker groups – adult men (3.2 percent), adult women (3.8 percent), teenagers (11.6 percent), whites (3.4 percent), blacks (7.9 percent) and Hispanics (5.6 percent) – showed little or no change over the month.
According to BLS, total employment rose by 464,000 to 135.2 million, seasonally adjusted, in June. The employment-population ratio – the proportion of the population age 16 and older with jobs – was 64.5 percent, compared with 64.3 percent in May. In June, the civilian labor force was about unchanged at 140.8 million, seasonally adjusted.