Another Solid Month of Job Growth

The U.S. Labor Market Report covering the national employment situation in July showed continuing improvement with a gain of 215,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.3%. The average hourly wage increased by five cents to $24.99. Over the year, average hourly earnings were up by 2.1%.

The employer payroll survey reported that total nonfarm employment in the United States increased by 215,000 jobs in July. Accompanying last month’s job gain were revisions to the May figure (revised up from 254,000 jobs to 260,000) and the June number which was also revised up, from 223,000 to 231,000. With these revisions, the gains in May and June combined were 14,000 higher than previously reported. Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 235,000 per month.

On a year-to-year (YTY) basis, U.S. employment expanded by 2.92 million jobs, an increase of 2.1%. Every major industry sector added jobs over the year with the exception of mining and logging. The fastest growing sectors in YTY percentage terms were construction (3.8%, 231,000 jobs); professional and technical services (3.6%, 301,300 jobs); administrative, waste and support services (3.5%, 304,700 jobs); leisure and hospitality (3.0%, 436,000 jobs); and health care and social assistance (2.9%, 526,600 jobs).

New record high levels of employment were reached last month in the following super-sectors: trade, transportation and utilities; professional and business services; education and health; leisure and hospitality; and other services (these are mainly jobs in repair and maintenance, personal and laundry services, and membership organizations).

The unemployment rate remained unchanged over the month at 5.3% but was down from the year ago rate of 6.2%. The labor force participation rate also held steady over the month, but remains at a 38-year low. The more comprehensive U-6 unemployment rate, which counts part-time workers who would prefer full-time work and individuals who would like a  job but have given up looking for work was 10.4%, down from 10.5% in June and 12.2% in July of last year. The percentage of individuals working part-time (under 35 hours) edged down to 18.3% in July from 18.6% in June and 19.1% a year ago. More people are working part-time by choice and fewer are doing so because they have no alternative. This was the lowest part-time share since December 2008 when it was also 18.3%. The long-run average (since 1990) is 18.0%.

Improvements in the labor market have also helped bring down the share of workers who have been jobless for 27 weeks or more. In July, that share was 26.9%, which was up slightly from June (25.8%), but down from 33.0% in July of 2014. The long-run average is 25.0%. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed persons has fallen by 986,000.

Summary: July was another solid month of job gains accompanied by consistent improvements in a number of other labor market indicators.

Source:  http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf