The Employment Situation: July 1999 — 1999-08-06

Payroll employment rose in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 310,000. Job gains continued in construction and throughout the service-producing sector. Manu- facturing employment also rose, after seasonal adjustment. Average hourly earnings increased by 6 cents. The number of unemployed persons (5.9 million) was about unchanged in July, and the unemployment rate held at 4.3 percent. The unemployment rate has been 4.3 or 4.2 percent each month since March. Over the month, the jobless rate for blacks increased to 8.8 percent. Unemployment rates for the other major demographic groups--adult men (3.5 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), teenagers (12.7 percent), whites (3.7 percent), and Hispanics (6.2 percent)--were essentially unchanged. (See tables A-1 and A-2.) The civilian labor force (139.3 million) and the labor force participation rate (67.0 percent) were about unchanged from June.