U.S. Employment Continues to Rise

More than 8 million jobs created since 2003.

July 9, 2007

WASHINGTON DC NEWS -- The U.S. Commerce Secretary, Carlos M. Gutierrez, praised the June Employment Report that showed 132,000 new jobs were created in the second quarter of 2007, revised upward by a total of 75,000 jobs. Employment rose in several service-providing industries, while manufacturing employment continued to decline. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month of June.

The Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez issued the following statement on the July 6, 2007, about the June Employment Report saying:

"As Americans celebrated our nation's birthday, today's jobs report gives us another reason to celebrate America's strength. June is the 46th straight month of rising employment in the U.S. Americans should be proud that more than 8 million jobs—equivalent to the population of New York City—have been created since the labor market turnaround in 2003. Our unemployment rate is slightly below the average for 2006, and well below the average of the past four decades.

"President Bush's policies have provided a foundation for this growth by establishing a low tax, pro-growth environment that encourages innovation, investment, exports and the development of globally competitive American companies. Americans have experienced the results, with contained inflation and real after-tax per capita personal income rising by 9.9 percent since the beginning of the administration.

"In order to continue creating jobs, we must break down barriers to U.S. exports and open new markets for American goods and services. We look forward to working with Congress to pass pending Free Trade Agreements with Colombia, South Korea, Panama and Peru, and extending Trade Promotion Authority. When we break down barriers to trade and investment, we create opportunities for American workers and increase the competitiveness of our economy, which benefits Americans."

The nation's number of unemployed persons, 6.9 million, was essentially unchanged and the unemployment rate held at 4.5 percent. In June, 1.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force compared with 1.6 million last year earlier. These individuals wanted and were available to work and had looked for a job sometime during the last year, so they were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks. Among the mar- ginally attached, there were 401,000 discouraged workers in June, down from 481,000 a year earlier. Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them. The remaining 1.1 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in June had not searched for work in the last 4 weeks for reasons such as school attendance and family responsibilities.

In June, total payroll employment rose by 132,000 to 138.0 million, seasonally adjusted. This increase followed gains of 122,000 in April and 190,000 in May. In June employment rose in the following sectors, health care and social assistance, food services, and wholesale trade. Although manufacturing continued to lose 18,000 jobs, the job losses occurred in several component industries of the manufacturing sector including the following; primary metals losing 5,000, computer and electronic products 4,000, wood products 4,000, and textile mills 2,000 jobs. Furthermore, partially offsetting the declines, machinery employment gained 6,000 jobs, while beverages and tobacco products manufacturing added 3,000 jobs over the month.

In the Healthcare Sector, employment grew by 30,000 in June, with employment gains of 14,000 in hospitals and 8,000 in nursing and residential care facilities. Over the last year, healthcare employment has expanded by 371,000 jobs. Social assistance employment was up by 13,000 employees over the month. This industry has added 84,000 jobs in the last year.

Another industry, food services and drinking places added 35,000 jobs in June. Employment in this industry has rose by 387,000 over the last year.

The wholesale and retail super-sector, wholesale trade employment increased by 20,000 employees in both durable and nondurable goods. While retail trade employment edged down in June. General merchandise stores lost 10,000 jobs over the month, and smaller declines occurred among other retail industries.

In the professional and business services super-sector employment changed little in June. During the first 6 months of 2007, job growth in the industry averaged 13,000 per month compared with an average of 42,000 per month in the last half of 2006.

Meantime, in the financial activities super-sector, employment in credit intermediation and related activities fell by 9,000. This loss was partially offset by a job gain in securities, commodity contracts, and investments adding 6,000 employees.

Unfortunately, government employment continued to trend upwards in June by adding 40,000 new jobs. Over the year, state and local governments together added 347,000 jobs, while federal employment was about unchanged.

Elsewhere in the construction sector, employment had little change over the month. Since its most recent peak in September, jobs in construction have declined by 44,000.

So, there you have it, the U.S. labor force is growing with the fastest employment opportunities occurring in state and local government, the healthcare industry and food services sector.

Published by:
Rob Cross
mailto:editor@357news.com

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