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WASHINGTON -- Hiring slowed to a near-standstill last month. Employers added the fewest jobs in nine months and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent.
- June - 18,000
- May - 25,000
The Labor Department says the economy generated only 18,000 net jobs in June. And the number of jobs added in May was revised down to 25,000.
High gas prices and supply-chain disruptions stemming from the Japan crisis and the weak housing market have slowed the economy. Average hourly wages declined last month. After-tax incomes, adjusted for inflation, have been flat this year.
Related:
US stocks dive after dismal June jobs report
Stocks are opening sharply lower after the government said businesses added the fewest jobs in June in more than a year.Businesses added the fewest jobs in more than a year. Governments cut 39,000 jobs.
Hiring has slowed sharply in the past two months. The economy added an average of 215,000 jobs per month in the previous three months.
There had been a fair amount of optimism ahead of the report. Heading into Friday, economists were projecting a number in the 80,000 to 90,000 range for jobs created.
Thursday the Dow rose 93 points, in large part because of a private sector jobs report from Automatic Data Processing. It showed 157,000 jobs were created by businesses last month. That's roughly double what the experts had projected for that report.
But concerns remain, and they do seem to be weighing on hiring. Economists are pointing to the debt ceiling drama; something they contend has already hurt private businesses.
President Obama met with top congressional leaders from both parties for an hour and a half Thursday, telling them to come back Sunday with their bottom-line demands.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, "We believe that comprehensive tax reform both on the corporate side and the personal side would make America more competitive, help create jobs in our country and is something that is under discussion."
Obviously the hope is to get something done before the August 2 deadline.
Following the latest jobs reports, economists say the economy is moving in the right direction but not growing fast enough at this stage of the recovery.
Written by The Associated Press and Andrew Adams.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
