The US economy continued to shed jobs in July, the Labor Department said this afternoon.
But a decline in the US labour force led to a drop in the unemployment rate in July. The unemployment rate fell to 6.2 per cent in July from 6.4 per cent in June.
Non-farm payrolls fell by 44,000 in July after losing a revised 72,000 jobs in June.
This is the sixth straight month of job losses. The economy has lost 486,000 jobs since February.
Wall Street economists expected payrolls to rise by 13,000 in July, and for the unemployment rate to remain steady at 6.4 per cent.
In June, total non-farm payrolls fell a revised 72,000, more than double the initial estimate of a 30,000 fall. Hourly earnings rose 0.3 per cent in July, in line with Wall Street forecasts.
AFP