The United States added 372,000 jobs in June, which held the national unemployment rate at 3.6%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The data indicate that even with the added jobs, the U.S. workforce remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Data showed professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health care industries saw notable increases in workforce participation.
The leisure and hospitality industry, which saw a mass exodus during the pandemic, saw gains of 67,000 workers in June. The industry, however, remains down 1.3 million employees since February 2020.
While inflation is raising the costs of goods, employees saw a bump in pay in June. The average nonfarm hourly rate increased by 10 cents, or .3%, to $32.08. In the last 12 months, the BLS reports that the average hourly rate for nonfarm work rose 5.1%.
While Americans are getting paid more, salaries have failed to keep up with inflation, which has remained over 8% in the last year.
Although the number of Americans collecting unemployment ever so slightly declined, the U.S. workforce declined by 500,000 in June, suggesting a number of Americans continue to retire or voluntarily leave the workforce. The overall workforce participation rate dropped .1% to 62.2%.
The workforce participation rate includes the number of people currently employed or actively looking for work.