Where Americans found jobs in July: Offices, stores, hospitals and restaurants

U.S. employers across a wide swath of the economy were confident enough in July to hire workers, with nearly every industry sector adding jobs at a solid rate.

Leading the rise, with 40,000 added jobs, was the category of professional services, which includes accountants, lawyers, engineers and consultants. Also in that category is temporary work, which posted a drop of 8,900 jobs — a potentially positive sign that people may be moving into more permanent positions.

Retail, restaurants and health care posted sizeable job gains during the month. Manufacturing, which had lost ground the previous month, rebounded with 15,000 added jobs — the best performance for the sector since January.

Mining, though, kept shedding workers as lower energy prices continued to weigh on oil drilling-related businesses. The sector lost nearly 5,000 jobs in July.

Overall, U.S. employers added 215,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate stayed at 5.3 percent, the lowest level since April 2008.

Industry (change from previous month) July 2015 June 2015 Year to date Past 12 months
Construction 6,000 0 108,000 231,000
Manufacturing 15,000 2,000 49,000 159,000
Retail 35,900 36,500 206,300 321,700
Transportation, warehousing 14,400 13,800 51,100 145,500
Information (Telecom, publishing) 2,000 4,000 26,000 53,000
Financial services 17,000 17,000 91,000 156,000
Professional services (Accounting, engineering, temp work) 40,000 69,000 351,000 666,000
Education and health 37,000 58,000 351,000 572,000
Hotels, restaurants, entertainment 30,000 24,000 209,000 436,000
Government 5,000 4,000 21,000 62,000
Source: Labor Department