Unemployment rate lowest in almost four years

WASHINGTON – People looking for work in health care and real estate found expanded employment opportunities in June, while factory workers continued to see jobs shrink.

After tallying all the employment winners and losers, the economy generated a net total of 146,000 jobs last month. The jobless rate, meanwhile, sank to its lowest level in nearly four years.

The employment snapshot from the Labor Department on Friday supported the view of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues that the economy is in good shape and the labor market is gradually improving despite high energy prices.

The civilian unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent in June, down a notch from 5.1 percent in May and the lowest since September 2001. The jobless rate has drifted downward after hitting 6.3 percent in June 2003, its highest point during the economic recovery.

While various service-sector jobs gained ground in June, manufacturers eliminated jobs for the fourth month in a row, shedding 24,000. Most of those cuts came from the automobile industry.

Job losses in manufacturing were more than offset by job gains in health care, real estate, retail, financial activities and elsewhere. That highlighted the economy’s different appetite for service workers on the one hand and factory workers on the other.

Workers’ average hourly earnings, which aren’t adjusted for inflation, rose to $16.06 in June. That’s 2.7 percent higher than the same month last year, a pace that should help support consumer spending, the economy’s lifeblood, analysts said.