The Employment Situation: June 2004 — 2004-07-02

Nonfarm payroll employment continued to rise in June, and the unemploy- ment rate remained at 5.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Payroll employment increased by 112,000 in June, following larger gains in the prior 3 months. The number of unemployed persons, 8.2 million, was essentially unchanged in June, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent. The unemploy- ment rate has been 5.6 percent in all but one month this year. The unemploy- ment rates for the major worker groups--adult men (5.0 percent), adult women (5.0 percent), teenagers (16.8 percent), whites (5.0 percent), blacks (10.1 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (6.7 percent)--showed little or no change over the month. In June, the unemployment rate for Asians was 5.0 percent, not seasonally adjusted.