The number of unemployed increased 2 percent from a year earlier to 3.315 million in June, and employment rose 2.1 percent to 29.314 million. Meanwhile, the number of people detached from the labour force went up 0.3 percent to 29.997 million. The participation rate increased to 53.8 percent in June from 53.4 percent a year ago, and the employment rate advanced to 48.4 percent from 48.0 percent.
The non-agricultural jobless rate edged down to 12.1 percent in June from 12.2 percent in the previous year. The non-farm sector added 744 thousand jobs, namely in industry and services while the farm sector lost 133 thousand jobs and the number of construction workers also declined.
Youth unemployment rate, measuring job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old, dropped to 19.4 percent from 20.6 percent in the same month a year ago.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate rose to 10.9 percent in June from 10.6 percent in May.