Friday July 5, 8:34 am Eastern Time
Reuters Business Report
Jobless Rate Edges Up
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate edged higher in June amid weaker-than-expected payrolls growth, the government said on Friday in a report showing an economy only slowly returning to full health.
Employers outside the farm sector added a paltry 36,000 workers to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said -- well short of the 86,000 gain economists had expected. Moreover, the department ratcheted down its payroll figures for April and May to show jobs growth of just 3,000 over those two months, compared to a total rise of 47,000 reported earlier.
With the jobs market weak, the unemployment rate rose to 5.9 percent in June from 5.8 percent a month earlier, the department said. Economists had widely predicted the jobless rate would tick higher.