Employment Law News

The Employment Situation:  June 2006

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 121,000 in June, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor  Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Employment continued to trend upward in several service-providing industries and in mining.  Average hourly earnings rose by 8 cents in June.
  
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
  
   The number of unemployed persons (7.0 million) was essentially unchanged in June, and the unemployment rate held at 4.6 percent.  The unemployment rate for adult men declined to 4.0 percent, while the unemployment rate for teenagers edged up to 15.4 percent.  Jobless rates for the other major worker groups--adult women (4.1 percent), whites (4.1 percent), blacks (9.0 percent), and Hispanics (5.3 percent)--showed little or no change over the month.  The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. 
  
The number of long-term unemployed persons--those unemployed 27 weeks or longer--fell to 1.1 million in June.  This group accounted for 16.2 percent of total unemployment, down from 18.8 percent in May.
  
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
  
The civilian labor force (151.3 million) and total employment (144.4 million) continued to trend up in June.  The labor force participation rate was essentially unchanged over the month at 66.2 percent and was about the same as a year earlier.  The employment-population ratio, at 63.1 percent, also was essentially unchanged over the month, but was 0.4 percentage point higher than a year earlier. Read more at bls.gov

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	Did You Know?
	Laws prohibit the termination of an employee in retaliation for filing a workers compensation claim The Workers’ Compensation statute in one state, NJSA 34:15-39.1 only prohibits the termination of an employee in retaliation for filing a workers compensation claim or for testifying at a workers’ compensation hearing. If you feel you were terminated for these reasons, one alternative is the filing of a discrimination complaint against your employer with the Division of Workers’ Compensation. Then contact our lawyers.