Unemployment Holds Steady at 4.6 Percent in June

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 121,000 in June, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reports. Employment continued to trend upward in several service-providing industries and in mining. 

Average hourly earnings rose by 8 cents in June.  

The unemployment rate for adult men declined to 4.0 percent, while the unemployment rate for teenagers edged up to 15.4 percent.  Jobless rates for the other major worker groups--adult women (4.1 percent), whites (4.1 percent), blacks (9.0 percent), and Hispanics (5.3 percent)--showed little or no change over the month.  The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. 

The number of long-term unemployed persons--those unemployed 27 weeks or longer--fell to 1.1 million in June. This group accounted for 16.2 percent of total unemployment, down from 18.8 percent in May.