Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation — 2007-06-01

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit under- standing that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 157,000 in May to 137.8 million. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.5 percent. Job growth continued in a number of service- providing industries, while employment declined in manu- facturing. In the first 5 months of 2007, payroll job growth averaged 133,000 per month, compared with 189,000 per month in 2006. Food services and drinking places added 35,000 jobs in May and 361,000 over the year. Over the month, health care employment grew by 25,000, with gains in hospitals and ambulatory health care services. Employment in social assistance continued to rise; the industry added 32,000 jobs over the last 3 months. Within professional and technical services, employment increased in computer systems design and in architectural and engineering services.