Unemployment nationwide edged downward from 9.7 percent in May to 9.5 percent in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, but there are concerns that those numbers improved because of people dropping out of the job search, not an improving economy.

Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 125,000 in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The decline in payroll employment reflected a decrease of 225,000 in the number of temporary employees working on Census 2010. Private-sector payroll employment edged up by 83,000.

In California, the latest employment information, for the month of May, put the state's unemployment at 12.4 percent, as Lake County News reported late last month.

Both the number of unemployed persons nationwide, at 14.6 million, and the unemployment rate, at 9.5 percent, edged down in June.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult women (7.8 percent) declined, while the rates for adult men (9.9 percent), teenagers (25.7 percent), whites (8.6 percent), blacks (15.4 percent), and Hispanics (12.4 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

In June, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was unchanged at 6.8 million. These individuals made up 45.5 percent of unemployed persons.

The civilian labor force participation rate fell by 0.3 percentage point in June to 64.7 percent. The employment-population ratio, at 58.5 percent, edged down over the month.

The number of persons employed part-time for economic reasons (some-times referred to as involuntary part-time workers), at 8.6 million, was little changed over the month but was down by 525,000 over the past 2 months. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

In June, about 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, an increase of 415,000 from a year earlier. These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed

because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.2 million discouraged workers in June, up by 414,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.

The remaining 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 125,000 in June, reflecting the departure of 225,000 temporary Census 2010 workers from federal government payrolls. Total private employment edged up over the month by 83,000 due to modest increases in several industries.

So far this year, private-sector employment has increased by 593,000 but in June was 7.9 million below its December 2007 level.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment rose over the month by 28,000 in amusements, gambling, and recreation.

Within professional and business services, employment continued to increase, by 21,000 jobs, in temporary help services. Employment in temporary help has risen by 379,000 since a recent low in September 2009. Elsewhere in professional and business services, management and technical consulting (+11,000) and business support services (+7,000) also added jobs over the month.

In June, transportation and warehousing added 15,000 jobs. Since a recent low in February, this industry has added 44,000 jobs.

Health care employment edged up in June (+9,000). Over the past 12 months, the industry has gained 217,000 jobs.

Mining employment continued to trend up in June (+6,000); the industry has gained 56,000 jobs since October 2009. Within mining, support activities added 7,000 jobs in June.

Manufacturing employment continued to trend up over the month (+9,000). The industry has added 136,000 jobs since December 2009.

Construction employment decreased by 22,000 in June, with the largest decline in nonresidential specialty trade contracting. On net, construction employment has shown little change over the last 4 months.

Employment in other private-sector industries, including wholesale trade, retail trade, information, and financial activities showed little change in June.

Government employment fell by 208,000 in June, driven by the loss of 225,000 temporary workers hired for Census 2010. Employment in both state and local governments was little changed over the month.

In June, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.1 hour to 34.1 hours. The manufacturing workweek for all employees decreased by 0.5 hour to 40.0 hours; this followed an increase of 0.4 hour in May. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.4 hours in June.

Average hourly earnings of all employees in the private nonfarm sector decreased by 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $22.53 in June. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.7 percent. In June, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged at $19.00.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for April was revised from +290,000 to +313,000, and the change for May was revised from +431,000 to +433,000.

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