July 1996 — 1996-07-05

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Good morning. I am pleased to be here to comment on the employment and unemployment data that were released this morning. Payroll employment continued to expand in June, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.3 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment, as measured by the establishment survey, grew by 239,000 in June, following a larger increase in the prior month. The average monthly gain in nonfarm payrolls was 265,000 in the second quarter of this year, compared with 200,000 in the first quarter and 173,000 in the latter half of 1995. Much of the recent pickup in employment growth is due to strength in the retail trade industry. The industry added 75,000 workers in June, its third straight month of robust job growth following essentially no net growth in the first quarter.