Where Americans found jobs in June: Professional services, health care, retail
Depending on the sector, June was either a great month for job growth or a lackluster one.
Leading the way with 64,000 added jobs was professional services, which includes accountants, engineers and office temp workers. Also posting sizable gains were retail and health care.
At the same time, momentum stalled in construction and manufacturing, two bedrock sectors of the American economy. Construction failed to add any jobs in June after gaining 15,000 in May and 30,000 in April. Manufacturing added just 4,000 last month.
Overall, U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent, the lowest level since April 2008. But the rate declined because many people out of work gave up on their job searches and were no longer counted as unemployed, a trend that may reflect rising discouragement.
Industry (change from previous month) | June 2015 | May 2015 | Year to date | Past 12 months |
Construction | 0 | 15,000 | 105,000 | 259,000 |
Manufacturing | 4,000 | 7,000 | 37,000 | 161,000 |
Retail | 32,900 | 26,400 | 160,200 | 300,100 |
Transportation, warehousing | 17,100 | 12,200 | 39,000 | 151,700 |
Information (Telecom, publishing) | 7,000 | -1,000 | 27,000 | 59,000 |
Financial services | 20,000 | 10,000 | 78,000 | 159,000 |
Professional services (Accounting, engineering, temp work) | 64,000 | 74,000 | 312,000 | 672,000 |
Education and health | 50,000 | 56,000 | 305,000 | 571,000 |
Hotels, restaurants, entertainment | 22,000 | 54,000 | 175,000 | 425,000 |
Government | 0 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 55,000 |
Source: Labor Department |