Private employment increases 3.4 percent from December 2007 to June 2015; earnings rise 17.6 percent

Private industry employment increased from 116 million jobs in December 2007—the beginning of the 2007–2009 recession—to 120 million in June 2015, a gain of 3.4 percent. Average hourly earnings increased from $21.22 to $24.95, or 17.6 percent.

Among private industries, education and health services experienced the largest increase in employment from December 2007 to June 2015 (16.8 percent). Employment rose 13.9 percent in mining and logging and 11.6 percent in leisure and hospitality over that period. Construction had the largest decrease in employment (−14.8 percent). Durable goods manufacturing (−10.3 percent) and nondurable goods manufacturing (−10.1 percent) also had employment decreases greater than 10 percent.

Average hourly earnings increased in all major private industries from December 2007 to June 2015. Industries with earnings increases greater than 20 percent over that period include other services (25.4 percent), information (23.3 percent), mining and logging (23.1 percent), and financial activities (21.5 percent).

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics program. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. Earnings estimates are not adjusted for inflation. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation — June 2015" (HTML) (PDF). More charts featuring nonfarm employment data are in Current Employment Statistics Highlights: June 2015.