FOR DELIVERY: 9:30 A.M., E.D.T. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1999 Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Statement of Katharine G. Abraham Commissioner Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday, July 2, 1999 Good morning. I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss the June employment and unemployment estimates that we released this morning. The unemployment rate was essentially unchanged in June, at 4.3 percent. It has been between 4.2 and 4.4 percent since last November. Nonfarm employment, as measured by our establishment survey, increased by 268,000 in June, well above the monthly average for the first 5 months of this year (189,000). There were sizable over-the- month job gains in many service-producing industries, but manufacturing and mining employment continued to decline. The services industry added 151,000 jobs in June, compared with a monthly average of 119,000 for the prior 12 months. Employment in business services increased by 43,000 over the month, as help supply services and computer and data processing services added 19,000 and 15,000 jobs, respectively. Among services industries that normally hire large numbers of summer workers, amusement and recreation services, hotels, and agricultural services all had seasonally adjusted employment increases. Strong job growth continued in engineering and management services. Notable job gains also occurred in motion pictures and social services. Employment in health services rose slightly, following little change in May. Retail trade added 49,000 jobs in June, about two- thirds of which were in eating and drinking places. Employment also increased in furniture and home furnishings stores (which includes computer stores) and in building materials and garden supplies. Job losses occurred for the second month in a row in food stores, where virtually no net job growth has been registered over the past 2˝ years. In June, employment in general merchandise stores was flat. Employment in finance, insurance, and real estate expanded by 24,000 in June, slightly above the monthly average of the prior year. Finance employment rose by 13,000, with noteworthy increases in commercial banks, security brokerages, and holding and other investment offices. Employment growth continued in insurance, and real estate posted a substantial gain in spite of rising mortgage interest rates. The employment increase of 29,000 in transportation and public utilities was well above the average monthly gain for the prior year. Wholesale trade employment rose slightly over the month, with all of the growth in durable goods distribution. In the goods-producing sector, construction employment rose by 26,000 (seasonally adjusted), following a large decline in May. Although employment growth in the industry has been sporadic recently, the underlying growth trend appears to have been fairly strong. Construction employment has risen by 222,000 since last October. Manufacturing employment continued to decline; the industry lost 35,000 jobs in June and has lost nearly a half million since its most recent peak in March 1998. Thus far in 1999, the rate of monthly job loss has been quite similar to that observed during the last half of 1998. Factory losses were widespread in June. In durable goods, both electrical equipment and aircraft manufacturing experienced notable job losses. Within nondurable goods, employment in food and kindred products, textiles, and apparel continued to decline. Employment in the apparel industry has fallen by one-third since its most recent peak in November 1991. Despite the employment losses in manufacturing, factory overtime, at 4.7 hours in June, was at the highest level in over a year, and the overall factory workweek remains at a relatively high level. Employment in mining continued to decline, but the losses moderated in June. For the year thus far, job losses in the industry have totaled 42,000. Average hourly earnings of private production or nonsupervisory workers grew by 5 cents in June, to $13.23. Over the year, average hourly earnings increased by 3.7 percent. The major labor market indicators from our survey of households showed little movement over the month. The jobless rate was 4.3 percent in June, not much different from May’s 4.2 percent. The rate has been below 4.5 percent since November 1998 and below 5.0 percent for 2 years now. In June, unemployment rates were little changed for most demographic groups. The jobless rate for blacks continued to drift downward and, at 7.3 percent in June, was significantly lower than a year earlier. The jobless rate for Hispanics has remained below 7.0 percent throughout the year to date. Even so, both blacks and Hispanics continue to experience higher unemployment than whites, for whom the jobless rate was 3.8 percent in June. The civilian labor force rose over the month to 139.4 million, but civilian employment and the proportion of the population that was employed, 64.3 percent, were little changed. The number of persons who held more than one job in June totaled 7.5 million (not seasonally adjusted). These multiple jobholders made up 5.6 percent of the total employed, down slightly from 5.8 percent a year earlier. Among persons not in the labor force in June, about 1.2 million individuals (not seasonally adjusted) indicated they wanted and were available for work and had looked for employment sometime in the past year, but were not currently looking for a job. Of these “marginally attached” persons, the number of discouraged workers--those who were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available to them--was 220,000 (not seasonally adjusted), down about 90,000 over the year. In summary, payroll employment growth was relatively strong in June, and the civilian unemployment rate was essentially unchanged. My colleagues and I now would be glad to answer your questions. 3 5