US Sheds Jobs for First Time This Year

Today's unemployment numbers from June delivered generally bleak news and suggest that the economic recovery is slowing, reports the Wall Street Journal. The unemployment rate actually dipped from 9.7% to 9.5%, but the US economy lost jobs (125,000, mostly because census workers' temporary positions were cut) for the first time all year. The private sector added only 83,000 jobs, fewer than expected.

"We need unprecedented rates of growth to get out of this hole in a reasonable amount of time," said the chief economist at the Department of Labor. "It's hard to overstate how deep the hole is." (More unemployment rate stories.)