June Jobs Report: 8.2 Percent Unemployment (Updated)

The US jobs report is out for June 2012, and it is bleak. Unemployment remained stuck at 8.2 percent. Additionally, private sector payrolls added just 84,000 jobs while the government sector shed 4,000 jobs for a net of just 80,000 jobs gained for the entire country. In May, the economy created just 69,000 jobs. The government has been in the habit of releasing a number and then later revising it down, so today’s 80,000 number may not stand for long. Economists expected 90,000 jobs to be created in June. A healthy economy would be expected to create north of 200,000 jobs.

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Despite President Barack Obama’s claim Thursday that manufacturing is “coming back,” the US manufacturing sector actually shrunk in June. Retailers also reported a “stagnant” economic environment in June.

Time reports that one-third of the new June jobs are barely jobs, they’re at temp agencies. Retail, manufacturing and the housing sector all saw no job growth at all.

The president and the White House got their communications lines crossed in response to the numbers, with the president saying that they show a “step in the right direction” while the White House warned not to “read too much” into the June report.

Mitt Romney reacted sharply, noting that the unemployment rate remains “unacceptably high,” adding that “This is a time for America to choose whether they want more of the same; whether unemployment above 8 percent month after month after month is satisfactory or not. It doesn’t have to be this way. America can do better and this kick in the gut has got to end.”

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