Record 155,576,000 Employed in June; 10th Record for Trump
Highway construction (Photo: Screen capture/YouTube)
On Friday, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said the economy added 213,000 jobs in June, a strong number; the number of employed Americans, 155,576,000, set its tenth record of the Trump presidency; but the number of unemployed Americans (which includes people who are actively looking for jobs) increased by almost half-a-million. The unemployment rate increased two tenths of a point to 4.0 percent.
In June, the nation’s civilian noninstitutionalized population, consisting of all people age 16 or older who were not in the military or an institution, reached 257,642,000. Of those, 162,140,000 participated in the labor force by either holding a job or actively seeking one.
The 162,140,000 who participated in the labor force equaled 62.9 percent of the 257,642,000 civilian noninstitutionalized population, a slight increase from last month's 62.7 percent.
Overall, the labor force participation rate has been trending down since its record high of 67.3 percent in the first quarter of 2000.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, "A lower labor force participation rate is associated with lower gross domestic product and lower tax revenues. It is also associated with larger federal outlays, because people who are not in the labor force are more likely to enroll in certain federal benefit programs.”
While the participation rate remains stagnant, the number of Americans not in the labor force – those neither working nor looking for a job – remained stubbornly high last month, at 95,502,000, partly because members of the Baby Boom generation are retiring in increasing numbers.
This number has increased seven times since Trump took office.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.7 percent), adult women (3.7 percent), and Asians (3.2 percent) and Blacks (6.5 percent, up from a record low of 5.9 percent) increased in June. The jobless rate for teenagers (12.6 percent), and Whites (3.5 percent) showed little or no change over the month.
In June, a record 27,077,000 Hispanics were employed, and the unemployment rate for this group, 4.6 percent, has never been lower.
Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 5 cents to $26.98 last month. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 72 cents, or 2.7 percent.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for April was revised up from +159,000 to +175,000, and the change for May was revised up from +223,000 to +244,000. With these revisions, employment gains in April and May combined were 37,000 more than previously reported.
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