So much for the hope that the economy had bottomed and that things were beginning to turn around. The unemployment trend was going in the right direction. While the overall unemployment rate was going up, the month-to-month declines were showing some signs of a positive trend. March was better than February and April was better than March and May continued the trend...the bad news is that June didn't stay with the trend.
The pace of job losses quickened in June after falling sharply just a month earlier, casting a shadow over the Obama administration's attempts to stanch months of stark declines in the labor market.
The American economy shed 467,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, its highest level in 26 years, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. Job losses were widespread among the construction, manufacturing and business and professional services sectors.
The forecast expected 365,000 job losses in June which amplifies the pain for the June numbers considerably. Don't let the 9.5% unemployment rate fool you as the U6 measure now climbs to 16.5% which includes those working part-time while looking for full-time employment, or those who've simply given up. The U6 measure is at its highest point since the government began keeping track in 1994.
There have now been 6.5 million job losses since the start of the recession in December 2007.
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