The US created 223,000 jobs in June, as the unemployment rate fell to 5.3%, according to a report from the US Labor Department.

However, the fall in the unemployment rate from 5.5% in May was not all good news. According to yesterday’s report, part of the explanation was that more than 400,000 people gave up their job search completely and therefore no longer counted as officially unemployed. 

The report says job gains were seen in business services, healthcare and the retail trade. Job losses continued in the mining sector, including the petroleum industry, which has been hit hard by falling oil prices. 

The US economy has had a net gain of 2.9m jobs over the past year, and 12.8m over the past five years.