The US saw a staggering 4,67,000 job losses in June, pushing the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.5 per cent, indicating that economic revival may take longer time than anticipated.
With more companies resorting to layoffs, the number of people who became unemployed reached 467,000 in June, according to the US Labor Department.
The jobless rate touched 9.5 per cent last month, the highest since 1983.
"Non farm payroll employment continued to decline in June (-467,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.5 per cent," the Labor Department said in a statement today.
Since the country officially slipped into recession in December 2007, about 7.2 million people have turned jobless while the unemployment rate has shot up by 4.6 percentage points.
In May, the jobless rate stood at 9.4 per cent and the same has been steadily rising since January this year.
"The number of unemployed persons (14.7 million) and the unemployment rate (9.5 per cent) were little changed in June," the statement said.
In June, employment in the manufacturing sector dropped by 1,36,000 while that in the construction segment declined by 79,000.
Keith Hall, who is the Commissioner of Bureau of Labor Statistics said that manufacturing, construction and professional and business services have accounted for about three-quarters of the jobs lost since the country slipped into recession.
"Payroll employment declines continued to be widespread among the major industries. In June, there were large decreases in manufacturing, construction, and professional and business services," Hall said in a separate statement.
The Labor Department said that unemployment rates in June for adult men stood at ten per cent, adult women (7.6 per cent), teenagers (24 per cent), whites (8.7 per cent), blacks (14.7 per cent), and Hispanics (12.2 per cent).
"The unemployment rate for the Asians was 8.2 per cent, not seasonally adjusted," it added.
Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs stood at 9.6 million last month.
The count of long-term unemployed -- those jobless for 27 weeks or more -- shot up by 433,000 over the month to 4.4 million.
Hall said that Federal government employment fell by 49,000 in June, mainly due to the lay off of workers temporarily hired to prepare for Census 2010.
