Nonfarm payrolls increased 223,000 last month, with construction employment unchanged and the mining sector purging more jobs, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Adding to the employment report's soft tone, 60,000 fewer jobs were created in April and May than previously reported.

At least 432,000 people dropped out of the labor force, pushing the unemployment rate two-tenths of a percentage point lower to 5.3 percent, the lowest since April 2008. 

The shrinking work force drove the labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, to 62.6 percent, the lowest reading since October 1977. The participation rate had touched a four-month high of 62.9 percent in May.