Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2012-06-01

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. Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent. Payroll employment rose by an average of 226,000 per month in the first quarter of the year; for April and May, the average was 73,000. Health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale trade added jobs in May, while construction employment declined. Health care employment rose by 33,000 in May, mostly in ambulatory health care services. Over the past 12 months, health care has added 340,000 jobs. Employment in transportation and warehousing increased by 36,000 in May. Job gains in transit and ground passenger transportation (+20,000) and in courier and messenger services (+5,000) followed losses in those industries in April.