Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in July (-247,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.4%, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently. The average monthly job loss for May through July (-331,000) was about half the average decline for November through April (-645,000). In July, job losses continued in many of the major industry sectors.

In July, the number of unemployed persons was 14.5 million. The unemployment rate was 9.4%, little changed for the second consecutive month.

Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates for adult men (9.8%), adult women (7.5%), teenagers (23.8%), whites (8.6%), blacks (14.5%), and Hispanics (12.3%) were little changed in July. The unemployment rate for Asians was 8.3%, not seasonally adjusted.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose by 584,000 over the month to 5.0 million. In July, 1 in 3 unemployed persons were jobless for 27 weeks or more.

The civilian labor force participation rate declined by 0.2 percentage points in July to 65.5 percent. The employment-population ratio, at 59.4%, was little changed over the month but has declined by 3.3 percentage points since the recession began in December 2007.

The number of persons working part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in July at 8.8 million. The number of such workers rose sharply in the fall and winter but has been little changed for 4 consecutive months.

About 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in July, 709,000 more than a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals, who were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 796,000 discouraged workers in July, up by 335,000 over the past 12 months. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in July had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.