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US July Unemployment Rate Fell to 9.4%

by candice.tsuei | August 7, 2009 at 08:45 am

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US unemployment rate fell to 9.4% in July, down from 9.5% in June, marking the first drop since April 2008, and moreover, the highest rate in more than a quarter of a century.

Analysts attributed the lower rate of contraction to the government's stimulus package, which helped boost infrastructure schemes.

US job market lost 247,000 jobs in July, also the lowest monthly figure since August 2008. Around 6.7 million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession in December 2007, according to the US Labor Department.

As recently as July 15, the Federal Reserve said it expected the U.S. unemployment rate to top 10 percent sometime in 2009 – which, of course, it still could.

While the slight drop in unemployment rate is certainly encouraging, there were still an estimated 8.8 million Americans who are working part-time in July who wanted to be working full-time, said the Labour Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner, Keith Hall.

Analysts had expected non-farm payrolls to drop by 320,000 in July and the unemployment rate to rise to 9.6%.

Job declines have affected all business sectors - 52,000 jobs lost in manufacturing and 76,000 jobs lost in construction. Both figures are smaller than they were a few months ago. On the bright side, there is an addition of 17,000 more jobs in the education and health services sector, and government employment rose by 7,000 after the cut of 48,000 staff in June.

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Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 15:39 on August 7th, 2009

While both U.S. and Canadian unemployment figures are slowing down, we shouldn't jump for joy yet. Official unemployment rates are compiled from those registered in unemployment offices. In Canada a number of jobs have been created by self-employment, so even though 45,000 jobs were lost in Canada the unemployment rate remained steady at 8.6%. Some economists warn that unemployment will rise well into next year. The recovery corner may be round.

DaveA (not verified)

at 10:26 on August 29th, 2009

These numbers are completely useless and unrealistically optimistic.It does not include how many lost a good job to a lousy one at 1/2 the pay. It does not include those who have given up, or are not actively trying to collect EI. It does not include self employed. Even for those employed, it does not reflect short term layoffs and reduction in net pay. It does not reflect governments increasing taxes in hidden ways hitting them on utilities and property taxes.For example, 75,000 less private sector jobs in July, yet only a 45,000 job loss? Government hire 30,000 and those no longer on EI?The social backlash is yet to come. When it does, I will be there in protest of governments fouling up the system for debt, corruption and bailouts. We can't afford our current governance any more.