Within manufacturing, employment in durable goods declined by 18,000 in May, with job losses of 7,000 in machinery and 3,000 in furniture and related products, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment in wholesale trade changed little.

Overall, total nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+38,000) in May, and the unemployment rate declined 0.3 percent to 4.7 percent.

Mining employment continued to decline (-10,000). Since reaching a peak in September 2014, mining has lost 207,000 jobs. Support activities for mining accounted for three-fourths of the jobs lost during this period, including 6,000 in May.

Employment in other major industries, including construction, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and government, changed little over the month.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) declined by 178,000 to 1.9 million in May. These individuals accounted for 25.1 percent of the unemployed. The number of persons unemployed less than 5 weeks decreased by 338,000 to 2.2 million.

In May, 1.7 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from a year earlier. These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.