Employment Situation: July 2007 — 2007-08-03

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up (+92,000) in July, and the unemployment rate (4.6 percent) was essentially unchanged, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment grew in several service-providing industries. Average hourly earnings rose by 6 cents, or 0.3 percent. Both the number of unemployed persons (7.1 million) and the unemployment rate (4.6 percent) were about unchanged in July. The jobless rate has ranged from 4.4 to 4.6 percent since September 2006. In July, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.2 percent), teenagers (15.2 percent), whites (4.2 percent), blacks (8.0 percent), and Hispanics (5.9 percent) were little changed. The un- employment rate for adult women edged up to 4.1 percent. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.0 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.) The number of persons unemployed 27 weeks and over rose by 188,000 to 1.3 million in July.