The United States added just 83,000 private sector jobs in June, according to the monthly statistical snapshot released by the Labor Department. The unemployment rate declined to 9.5 percent, from 9.7 percent in May. But that was a largely illusory decline, as 652,000 Americans left the work force.
Over all, the nation lost 125,000 jobs in June, but those losses came as temporary federal Census workers headed for the exits.
With the economy slowing ”” housing sales plummeted, while earnings and hours worked ticked downward last month ”” the stakes grow larger, economically and politically. The next few monthly unemployment reports will unfold during the run-up to the midterm Congressional elections this fall. Incumbents feel particularly precarious, and major economic decisions about financial reform, unemployment benefits, and aid to states still sit on their desks.
“We may have seen the best of employment for some time,” said Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Northern Trust. “In general the economy is downshifting, maybe to stall speed, or just above stall.”
Read it all, and for those of you so inclined David A. Rosenberg’s detailed analysis is very fine (9 pages of the pdf).
The significant figure is that the number of people giving up was 8 times – dwarfing – the number of jobs added.