National Job Growth in June Woeful, Unemployment Rate Rises to 9.2 Percent

In surprisingly grim new data, national job growth virtually ground to a near-halt in June, the federal government reports.

The figures, a paltry 18,000 jobs added during the sixth month of 2011, is what Bloomberg News calls "an alarming challenge to predictions that the economy will bounce back later this year." Economists had forecast 105,000 new jobs.

Analysts say the 18,000 jobs represent a trivial number in a country with 150 million workers. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent, a far worse result than expected.

The jobs report was exceptionally weak even beyond those headline numbers. Job growth in April and May was revised downward by a combined 44,000 positions. Temporary employers, which tend to be a leading indicator of future activity in the job market, cut 12,000 jobs. And some 272,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force, perhaps giving up looking for work out of frustration; the unemployment rate would have risen even higher had they stayed in.

Financial markets took a plunge immediately after opening Friday morning. Standard & Poors 500 was down 1 percent at 9:40 a.m. Money flooded into U.S. Treasury bonds, viewed as a safe port in a storm, with the interest rate the federal government must pay to borrow money for a decade dropping to 3.04 percent, from 3.13 percent.

There was no reaction from the White House by 10:30 a.m. Friday.
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