U.S. unemployment rate holds at 4.9%, economy adds 255,000 new jobs

The U.S. jobless rate held at 4.9% in July as continued employment gains in professional and business services, health care and financial activities helped to add 255,000 jobs to American payrolls, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today (Aug. 5).

After adding only 38,000 workers to U.S. payrolls in May, the nation’s labor pool rebounded in June and July with nearly 600,000 new workers now receiving paychecks and most major worker categories are now seeing single-digit unemployment.

Meanwhile, U.S. Labor Department officials revised total nonfarm payroll employment for May to 24,000, up from the previous total of 11,000. June numbers were also revised from 287,000 to 292,000. With these revisions, employment gains in May and June combined were 18,000 more than previously reported. Over the past 3 months, job gains have averaged 190,000 per month.

Labor force data, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released Friday (July 22) by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, show Arkansas’ seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate was 3.8%, an all-time low first touched in May. A year ago, the June jobless rate was 5.3%.

Among the major U.S. worker groups, unemployment rates in July were little changed for adult men (4.6%), adult women (4.3%), teenagers (15.6 percent), Whites, (4.3%), Blacks (8.4%), Asians (3.8%)  and Hispanics at 5.4%.

In July, the number of persons unemployed less than 5 weeks decreased by 258,000. At 2 million, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was about unchanged over the month and accounted for 26.6% of the unemployed.

Another 2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, also unchanged from a year earlier. These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Overall, the strong professional and business services sector added 70,000 jobs in July and has added 550,000 jobs in the past 12 months. Within the industry, employment rose by 37,000 in professional and technical services in July, led by computer systems design and related services (+8,000) and architectural and engineering services (+7,000).

Health care employment increased by 43,000 in July with gains in ambulatory health care services (+19,000), hospitals (+17,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+7,000). Over the past 12 months, health care has added 477,000 jobs.

Employment in financial activities rose by 18,000 in July and has risen by 162,000 over the year. Jobs in leisure and hospitality also continued to trend up for the month with 45,000 new positions across the U.S.

Food services and drinking places remained steady with the addition of 21,000 jobs in July, while government employment edged up in July by 38,000.

Employment in mining continued to trend down with a loss of 6,000 positions. Since reaching a peak in September 2014, employment in this industry has fallen by 220,000, or 26%. Jobs in other major industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, and information, showed little or no change over the month.

In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 8 cents to $25.69. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.6%. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 7 cents to $21.59 in July.