Economy Lost 62,000 Jobs in June (Update)

Updated from 9:02 a.m. EDT.

The unemployment rate held steady at 5.5% in June, though employers continued to shed jobs for the sixth straight month, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Nonfarm payrolls decreased by 62,000 last month, adjusted for seasonal fluctuations. The figure was slightly higher than the consensus estimate of 60,000 jobs cut. The economy lost 49,000 jobs in May.

Layoffs have spread throughout the private sector, provoked by the bursting of the housing bubble and high oil prices. The construction sector has been especially hard hit, slashing 528,000 jobs since its peak in September 2006, though layoffs have been widespread across the financial sector, airline industry and manufacturing. ...