Most of you are probably aware that the U.S. unemployment rate has hit a record high of 9.5% . According to the labor department the number of layoffs in June amounted to a staggering 467,000 as compared to 345,000 in May. The number of job losses in May gave job seekers hope that the job market was regaining the strength it once had. Economist had predicted 550,000 layoffs for the month of May and the actual number was much lower than expected. However, after seeing the June report it seems like it won’t be too long before past predictions will become a reality.

The industries that seemed most affected during the month of June were manufacturing, professional and business services, and construction. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed has increased by 7.2 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 4.6 percentage points. Below you will find some numbers from the report published by the U.S. Labor Department that gives a picture of the unemployment situation and what the job market is currently undergoing.

June unemployment rate = 9.5%  (the unemployment rates in parenthesis are for the month of May)

• Adult men : 10% (9.8%)
• Adult women : 7.6% (7.5%)
• Teenagers : 24% (22.7%)
• White : 8.7% (8.6%)
• African American : 14.7% (14.9%)
• Latino ethnicity : 12.2% (12.7%)

Also according to the report, the average weekly earning is down from $613.34 to $611.49. The other notable factor is that the average workweek is recorded at 33 hours which is the lowest ever recorded for data that go back as far as 1964.

This report has been quite surprising for many as many had estimated lower number of layoffs after seeing the numbers in May. May layoffs were 205,000 less than what was predicted by the economists. According to a survey conducted by the Adecco Group, 40% of U.S. workers believe the recession will continue for another full year, and potentially into the third quarter of 2011.

Unemployment report for July is scheduled to be released on Friday, Aug. 7th 2009. We have embedded the June report below if you would like to quick scan through it. To download please click on this link (PDF)

What do you think? Will July be even worse or are we going to bounce back?

source : 1,2
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