The unemployment rate remained at 7.6% for June, according to a Labor Department report (link opens as PDF) released today.
Although this latest rate failed to meet analyst expectations of a slight drop to 7.5%, total nonfarm payroll employment growth exceeded expectations. Analysts had predicted 161,000 new jobs for June, but the month's increase actually clocked in at 195,000.
Source: bls.gov.
Diving deeper, the number of long-term unemployed (4.3 million) and unemployed overall (11.8 million) were essentially unchanged, as were the civilian labor force participation rate (63.5%) and the employment-population ratio (58.7%).
The leisure and hospitality industry packed the most punch for payroll improvements, adding 75,000 jobs in June. Professional and business services employment increased by 53,000, while retail rose 37,000.
As a positive note for the individual employee, average hourly earnings made an unexpected 0.4% gain (up $0.10 to $24.01) after bumping up 0.1% for May. Analysts had expected 0.2%, just half of the actual increase.
The report also gave revised numbers for the change in total nonfarm payroll employment in April and May, bumping April's number up by 50,0000 and May's number up by 20,000.
