(The Center Square) – The U.S. economy added 372,000 jobs last month, more than expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The unemployment rate hovered at 3.6 percent for the fourth consecutive month.

“Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health care,” BLS said.

According to BLS, there are 5.9 million unemployed Americans seeking work and 11.3 million available jobs, a near record gap between workers and job openings.

“Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Asians increased to 3.0 percent in June,” BLS said. “The jobless rates for adult men (3.3 percent), adult women (3.3 percent), teenagers (11.0 percent), Whites (3.3 percent), Blacks (5.8 percent), and Hispanics (4.3 percent) showed little or no change over the month. Among the unemployed, both the number of permanent job losers, at 1.3 million in June, and the number of persons on temporary layoff, at 827,000, changed little over the month. These measures are little different from their values in February 2020.”

The economy also saw a drop in part-time workers.

“The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons declined by 707,000 to 3.6 million in June and is below its February 2020 level of 4.4 million,” BLS said. “These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.”