Forecasts were much too optimistic for the June employment numbers. The labor market lost 467,000 jobs last month, pushing the unemployment rate up one-tenth to 9.5%, its highest level in 26 years. Analysts had been looking for just 325,000 lost jobs, following a loss of 322,000 in May.
“Job losses were widespread across the major industry sectors, with large declines occurring in manufacturing, professional and business services, and construction,” said the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the unemployment rate has surged by 4.6 percentage points, adding 7.2 million people to the unemployed list.
The unemployment rate for adult men is 10.0%, for adult women it is 7.6%. Teenagers have an unemployment rate of 24%. The jobless rate for whites is 8.7%, for blacks it is 14.7%, for Hispanics it is 12.2% â€
