WSJ: Jobs Data Dim Recovery Hopes

By LUCA DI LEO And JEFF BATER
JULY 8, 2011

WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy barely added jobs for the second month in a row in June and the unemployment rate rose to the highest level this year, adding to concerns the labor market will take years to recover.

Nonfarm payrolls rose 18,000 last month, far fewer than expected, as small gains in the private sector were just enough to outweigh continued government-job losses, the Labor Department said Friday in its survey of employers. Payrolls data for the previous two months were revised down by a total 44,000 to show increases of only 25,000 jobs in May and 217,000 in April.

The jobless rate, which is obtained from a separate household survey, increased for the third straight month to 9.2% in June from 9.1% in May. It was the highest level since December 2010. There are 14.1 million Americans who would like to work but can't get a job.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast payrolls would rise by 125,000 and the jobless rate would remain steady at 9.1%. the rest