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Unemployment Drops To 9.4% In July
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 7, 2009
Modified Aug 7, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 7, 2009
Modified Aug 7, 2009
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The U.S. Department of Labor revealed that the unemployment rate for July was 9.4%—which is actually down from June's 9.5% rate. Bloomberg News writes, "The pace of U.S. job losses slowed more than forecast last month and the unemployment rate dropped for the first time since April 2008, the clearest signs yet that the worst recession since the Great Depression is easing." (About 2.7 million jobs have been lost since December 2007.) Many analysts had expected the rate to hit 9.6%, so the news is unexpectedly pleasant, though unemployment is still a huge problem. Additionally, the Labor Department reports, "The average monthly job loss for May through July (-331,000) was about half the average decline for November through April (-645,000)," and here are some other unemployment rate stats: "Adult men (9.8 percent), adult women (7.5 percent), teenagers (23.8 percent), whites (8.6 percent), blacks (14.5 percent), and Hispanics (12.3 percent) were little changed in July. The unemployment rate for Asians was 8.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted."
Tagged
economy
recession
Unemployment
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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