July 2016 employment: US adds 255,000 jobs

The Employment Situation’ news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added 255,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent (7.8 million). Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates in July were little changed for adult men (4.6 percent), adult women (4.3 percent), teenagers (15.6 percent), Whites, (4.3 percent), Blacks (8.4 percent), Asians (3.8 percent), and Hispanics (5.4 percent). Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.8 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 59.7 percent, changed little in July.  The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 5.9 million in July. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job. The change in employment for May 2016 was revised from 11,000 jobs added to 24,000 jobs added while the change for June 2016 was revised from 287,000 jobs added to 292,000 jobs added. With these revisions, employment gains in May and June combined were 18,000 more than previously reported.]]>