The U.S. and Latino unemployment rate slipped based on May's jobs data. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor, announced the overall unemployment rate decreased to 5.3 percent as 223,000 jobs were added.

According to BLS Commissioner Erica Groshen, the job sectors of professional and business services, health care, retail trade, financial activities, transportation and warehousing saw the biggest employment gains.

"The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons, at 6.5 million, was little changed in June," said Groshen. "These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time work."

In regards to the overall U.S. unemployment rate, the latest 5.3 percent rate represented a decline of 0.2-percentage points from the previous month. The number of unemployed persons also dropped by 375,000 people to 8.3 million.

Economists were reportedly expecting higher job gains. A Reuters poll found economists projecting 230,000 new jobs during June with an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent.

The U.S. Latino population dropped by 0.1-percentage point. The unemployment rate slipped from 6.7 percent in May to 6.6 percent in June. In comparison to June 2014, the Latino unemployment rate fell by 1 percentage point -- 7.6 percent to 6.6 percent.

Based on the BLS statistics, more than 26.1 million Latinos are participating in the civilian labor force, which comprises both individuals employed and unemployed.

Most Latinos, at 24.4 million during June, are employed, which represents working individuals over 16 years old, but includes people "temporarily absent" from their jobs. The sum of Latinos employed increase slightly as May's data has 24.36 million employed. In comparison to June 2014 to June 2015, more than one million Latinos have gained jobs.

The BLS noted 1.73 million Latinos are unemployed, which the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) defined as individuals "who are available to work make an effort to find a job or expect to be called back from a layoff but are not working."

Millions more of Latinos, however, are not seeking employment. The BLS revealed 13.4 million Latinos are "not in the labor force," which is defined as "people over the age of 16 classified as neither employed nor unemployed." The number of Latinos not in the labor force slightly increased from 13.3 million in May.

The Latina unemployment rate encountered a bigger decline compared to Latino males. The Latina June unemployment rate hit 6 percent, a drop from 6.5 percent in May and from 7.2 percent from June 2014. For Latino males, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1-percentage points -- 6 percent in May to 5.9 percent in June.

The unemployment rate among whites was 4.6 percent in June. African Americans saw their unemployment rate decline to 9.5 percent fro 10.2 percent in May.

According to Betsey Stevenson, of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the U.S. economy added 5.6 million jobs during the last two years and represents the strongest two-year job growth since 2000.

"June is normally a seasonally strong month for labor force growth, as many new graduates and summer workers enter the labor force... But this June, the labor force only rose 0.4 percent," Stevenson stated.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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