U.S. June Loses 62,000 Jobs; Jobless Rate Remains At 5.5 Percent

Washington, D.C. (AHN)The Labor Department reported Thursday that U.S. June non-farm payrolls declined for a six consecutive month more-than-expected.

U.S. payrolls last month fell by 62,000 workers, while the jobless rate remained at a four-year high of 5.5 percent after jumping in May by the most in two decades.

Last month, the unemployment rate increased from 5 percent in April.

The Labor Department report Thursday showed the unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance, which tends to track the U.S. jobless rate, increased to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent.

Over the period of six months, payrolls have now declined for a total loss of 438,000 workers and the payroll in the month of April and May was revised upward adding 52,000 jobs.

Any figure above 350,000 indicates that the labor market is weak; the weekly jobless claims has remained above that level since April.

The government said average hourly earnings moved up by 6 cents to $18.01, a 3.4 percent increase from a year earlier.

The report showed that most job losses were reported in the sectors including construction down by 43,000, manufacturing by 33,000, goods-producing industries by 69,000 and business services by 51,000.

Jobs were added in education and health services by 15,000, leisure and hospitality by 7,000, and government by 29,000.

The four-week average, which is a less volatile measure of initial jobless claims rose by 11,250 to 390,500 from 379,250 in the fourth week of June and compared to 378,250 in the week prior.

The four-week average was between 300,000 and 325,000 for much of 2007, which is a sign of healthy job growth, while it was below 350,000 for most of the first quarter this year.

Last year, the economy created as much as 91,000 new jobs each month on average.