Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected, and the jobless rate hit a 26-year high of 9.5%.President Barack Obama acknowledged concern. "What we're still seeing is too many jobs lost, too many families who are worried whether they're going to be next in terms of job loss, or whether they can find another," he told AP.
Job losses had decreased every month since January, but they rose in June. The 467,000 job losses were up from 322,000 in May and worse than the 363,000 economists were expecting. Many economists predict it will hit 10% this year and keep rising into next year before falling back.
Including laid-off workers who have given up looking for jobs or have settled for part-time work, the so-called underemployment rate was 16.5% in June—the highest on records dating to 1994. The recession has taken out 6.5 million jobs in about a year and a half. All told, nearly 15 million people were considered
unemployed in June. Illustrating how hard it is to land a job, 29% of the unemployed have been out of work six months or longer. That's the most on records dating to just after World War II. "We are in some very hard and severe economic times," Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said. "The president and I are both not happy."
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