Non-farm employment grew by 207,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the month, payroll employment rose in many service-providing industries.
Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.5 million, and the unemployment rate, 5.0 percent, were unchanged in July. A year earlier, the number of unemployed was 8.2 million and the jobless rate was 5.5 percent.
Over the month, the unemployment rates for most major worker groups — adult men (4.3 percent), adult women (4.7 percent), teenagers (16.1 percent), whites (4.3 percent), and Hispanics or Latinos (5.5 percent) — showed little or no change. The jobless rate for blacks declined from 10.3 to 9.5 percent over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 5.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted.