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