U.S. economy lost 62,000 jobs in June

The economy lost 62,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate held steady at an uncomfortably high 5.5%, according to data from the Department of Labor. The decrease in non-farm payrolls follows a decline of 49,000 jobs last month. During the first half of the year, payrolls declined by 438,000 jobs. The professional-and-business-services industry lost 59,000 jobs in June. Meanwhile, the construction and manufacturing industries recorded job losses of 43,000 and 33,000, respectively. In one of the report's few bright spots, the health care and mining industries added 15,000 and 8,000 jobs, respectively. For the month, average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls rose 6 cents, or 0.3%, to a seasonally adjusted $18.01. The average work week for production and non-supervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls was unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 33.7 hours. Also, new applications for jobless benefits increased to a seasonally adjusted 404,000, marking an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 388,000.