The Economic Situation report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, July 8, 2016, revealed a growth of 287,000 jobs for the month of June, after only having increased by 11,000 jobs in May 2016.

June’s employment represents a 97 percent increase over the average gain of 147,000 jobs of the past three months, and a 25.8 percent increase over the 220,000 jobs gained in June 2015. The unemployment rate for the month of June increased by 0.2 percentage point to 4.9 percent, while the number of unemployed persons increased by 347,000 to 7.8 million. Together, these increases largely offset declines in May, bringing both the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons back in line with levels that occurred between August 2015 to April 2016.

Job gains for the month of June primarily occurred in leisure and hospitality (+59,000 jobs), healthcare and social assistance (+58,000 jobs), professional and business services (+38,000 jobs), and retail trade (+30,000 jobs). Gains also occurred in information (+44,000 jobs), largely a result of workers returning from a strike within the telecommunications sector.

Total nonfarm payroll employment for April and May was revised from 123,000 to 144,000 jobs, and 38,000 to 11,000 jobs, respectively. With these revisions, employment gains for both months combined were 6,000 less than previously reported.