The Employment Situation: June 1997 — 1997-07-03

Nonfarm payroll employment rose in June, and the unemployment rate increased to 5.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The total number of payroll jobs increased by 217,000; private-sector employment rose by 151,000. The number of unemployed persons rose by 302,000 in June to 6.8 million, seasonally adjusted, and the unemployment rate increased by two- tenths of a percentage point to 5.0 percent. Among the major demographic groups, the jobless rate for adult men rose by 0.4 percentage point to 4.2 percent, after declining by the same magnitude in May. An increase in the jobless rate for whites to 4.2 percent in June also reversed a decline in May. Unemployment rates for adult women (4.4 percent), teenagers (16.8 percent), blacks (10.4 percent), and Hispanics (7.6 percent) were essentially unchanged in June.