June Employment Numbers Drop

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news Only 18,000 jobs were added last month – the weakest increase in nine months, The U.S. Labor Department reported.

Analysts had expected much higher numbers. Wall street took a tumble today as a result of the poor forecast. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P all dropped more than 1 percent.

In the meantime, the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent.

“Our nation’s labor market experienced slower growth in the month of June, said Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis in a news release today. “The private sector added 57,000 jobs, but federal, state and local governments cut a combined 39,000 positions, resulting in a total gain of 18,000 non-farm payroll jobs last month. The national unemployment rate edged up to 9.2 percent.”

While it’s true that jobs are slowly being created, the rate of recovery isn’t very encouraging. We’re still a  long way off from restoring the eight million jobs lost during the recession.

Part of the problem involves high gas prices, overseas disasters and concerns over the debt ceiling – and the issue is exacerbated by businesses unwilling to hire talent in such uncertain times.

“”We’ve now had 16 straight months of private sector job growth and added more than 2.2 million private sector jobs in this span. Our economic recovery is being, and needs to be, carried by the private sector. But we need to see businesses do more to employ American workers. Many companies have had a great year and are sitting on large piles of capital. It is critical that they begin to turn their profits into jobs for the American people,” Solis said.

By Marie Larsen