America’s unemployment rate remained relatively stable at 4.1% in June, even with the total nonfarm payroll employment increasing for the month by 147, as measured by the US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS).

Employment growth was concentrated in state government and health care, while federal government employment continued to decline. In June, the number of unemployed people stood at 7.0 million with the unemployment rate holding within a narrow range of 4.0% to 4.2% since May 2024. 

Among major demographic groups, the unemployment rate for Black workers rose to 6.8%, while it declined to 3.6% for both adult women and White workers. The rates for adult men (3.9%), teenagers (14.4%), Asians (3.5%), and Hispanics (4.8%) showed little or no change. 

The number of long-term unemployed—those jobless for 27 weeks or more—increased by 190,000 to 1.6 million, representing 23.3% of the total unemployed population.

Labour force participation rate remained unchanged

The BLS is reporting that the labour force participation rate remained unchanged at 62.3% while the employment-population ratio held steady at 59.7%. The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons was little changed at 4.5 million. 

These individuals preferred full-time work but were working part-time due to reduced hours or the inability to find full-time employment. The number of people not in the labour force who wanted a job remained essentially unchanged at 6.0 million. 

Within this group, 1.8 million were marginally attached to the labour force, an increase of 234,000 while the number of discouraged workers rose by 256,000 to 637,000.

Marginal rise Government employment

The 147,000 employment increase in June aligns with the average monthly gain of 146,000 over the past year. Government employment rose by 73,000, driven by a 47,000-job gain in state government, including 40,000 in education. 

Local government education also added 23,000 jobs. However, federal government employment declined by 7,000 and has fallen by 69,000 since January. Health care employment grew by 39,000 as hospitals added 16,000 jobs and nursing and residential care facilities added 14,000. 

Social assistance employment continued to trend upward, increasing by 19,000, primarily in individual and family services. Employment in other major industries—including mining, construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and other services—showed little or no change in June. 

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by US$0.08, or 0.2%, to US$36.30, marking a 3.7% increase over the past year. For production and nonsupervisory employees, average hourly earnings increased by US$0.09 to US$31.24. 

The average workweek for all employees edged down by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours, while the average for production and nonsupervisory employees declined by 0.2 hour to 33.5 hours.