US Job Market Remained Robust in June

According to a recent news release by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, total nonfarm payroll employment in the United States increased by 209,000 in June, while the unemployment rate raised slightly to 3.6% from 3.4% last April, representing 6 million unemployed Americans.

Employment continued an upward trend in the healthcare sector. The industry added 41,000 positions in June, with job growth occurring in hospitals (+15,000), nursing and residential care facilities (+12,000), and home healthcare services (+9,000). The industry has added an average of 42,000 jobs per month thus far this year, similar to the average gain of 46,000 per month in 2022.

Employment in leisure and hospitality changed little in June (+21,000), marking the third consecutive month of incremental employment change for these sectors. Employment in leisure and hospitality remains below its February 2020 level by 369,000 (2.2%).

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by US$0.12 (0.4%) in June, to $33.58. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.4%. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by $0.11 (0.4%), to $28.83.

Hours within the average workweek also increased slightly in June, moving up by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours a week. The number of people employed part time for economic reasons (that is, they’d rather work full time but were, for various reasons, unable to do so) increased by 452,000 to 4.2 million.