Unemployment rose to 9.5% in June but businesses continued to cut positions, shedding 67,000 non-farm jobs, the Department of Labor reported yesterday.
The economy has lost 7.2 million jobs since the current recession started in December 2007, and the unemployment rate has risen 4.6%.
The number of persons unemployed in June was 14.7 million, compared to 14.5 million in May.
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In May, the unemployment rate was 9.4%. From April to June, the economy lost an average of 436,000 per month.
The department said the unemployment rate in June would have been even higher if it had included the 2.2 million people it describes as "marginally attached" to the labor force, the same as in May but 618,000 more than in June 2008. Marginally attached was defined as individuals who wanted to work and were available and had searched for a job within the last year, but not within the past four weeks.
The number of persons unemployed for 27 weeks or more was 4.4 million, up from 3.9 million in May.
Wages remained sluggish but average hourly earnings were unchanged. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings increased 2.7% and average weekly earnings rose 0.9%.
The number of people who worked part time out of necessity-because they could not find full-time work-was 9.0 million, compared with 9.1 million in May. That number has increased 4.4 million since the recession started.
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