Sum gain in June: 18,000 jobs

The Labor Department said Friday the U.S. economy added 18,000 jobs in June, marking a second consecutive month in which the recovery appeared stalled. The critical employment situation report showed 54,000 jobs added in the previous month, which was a sharp slowdown from April's 232,000 jobs added. In June, the unemployment rate ticked higher from 9.1 percent to 9.2 percent. Partly on the strength of an Automatic Data Processing Inc. report, which showed 157,000 private sector jobs added in June, economists had expected the unemployment rate to decline to 9 percent. In reports that covered May and June, manufacturing lost momentum it sustained for the first four months of the year. Some of those reports are showing improvement in June, but a reflection of that will not appear in the labor market for another month. The department said the number of unemployed persons grew from 13.9 million to 14.1 million. Manufacturing "has been flat for the past two months," the Labor Department said. Following a total gain of 164,000 jobs November to April, in the latest report the sector "changed little," adding 3,000 jobs. Growth was noted in leisure and hospitality, which gained 34,000 jobs. Mining jobs rose by 8,000. Heathcare continued a long trend higher, adding 14,000 jobs in June. The average hourly earnings for private-sector jobs in June declined by 1 percent to $22.99. Over 12 months, hourly earnings have dropped 1.9 percent. The average workweek also fell, down 0.1 percent to 34.3 hours and factory overtime "edged down by 0.1 hour to 3.1 hours," the report said.