and 51,000 jobs lost.
In the latest release from the Labor Department:
The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down in July (-51,000), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Employment continued to fall in construction, manufacturing, and several service-providing industries, while health care and mining continued to add jobs. Average hourly earnings rose by
6 cents, or 0.3 percent, over the month.
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
Both the number of unemployed persons (8.8 million) and the unemployment rate (5.7 percent) rose in July. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 1.6 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.0
percentage point.
And...
In July, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons rose by 308,000 to 5.7 million and has risen by 1.4 million over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who indicated that they would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or they were unable to find full-time jobs.
Anyone with half a brain could have seen this coming. Yet the Republicans will continue bleating 'the economy is in good shape, the GDP is growing, everything is just hunky-dory.
As for that growing economy. It's a temporary result of the stimulus and some think it may make the pain last longer.
The department said the economy shrank at the end of last year, revising an earlier estimate of growth. And there is evidence that the decent growth in the second quarter will come at a cost. "We essentially traded strong growth now for weak growth later," said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at California State University. "As a result, this may turn out to be a longer recession than we're used to."
I'm sure the Obama campaign has a couple of ads ready to hit this. The message is clear: Republican leadership has screwed working people.