US adds 80,000 jobs in June, as growth remains sluggish

Mr. Brown doubts the latest job numbers will push the Federal Reserve into a more accommodative mode. However, he expects the Fed will start to shift its discussion toward economic weakness and what it can do to combat it. If the US economy starts to falter, he expects that the Fed will start to fret about deflation – the lowering of prices, which can sap the economy. “I’m not sure if we are there yet, but we are moving in that direction,” he says.

In Washington, the White House touted the fact that the private sector has added 4.4 million jobs over the past 28 months. It continued to cite the deep recession it inherited from the Bush administration. “President Obama has proposals to create jobs by ending tax breaks for companies to ship jobs overseas and supporting state and local governments to prevent layoffs,” said Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, in a statement.

However, Republicans immediately snapped back. Rep. Kevin Brady (R) of Texas, top Republican on the Joint Economic Committee, stated that Mr. Obama’s economic recovery now ranks as the worst in modern times in terms of both job creation and economic growth.

“Three years after the recession officially ended in June 2009, we still have more than four million fewer private sector jobs than we did when the recession started,” he said in a statement. “And for the 41st consecutive month, the unemployment rate has soared above a discouraging 8 percent."

According to the Labor Department report, there were only a few areas of job growth. Professional and business services added 47,000 jobs in June, with temp services accounting for 25,000 of the increase. When businesses iare uncertain about the future, they often hire temp workers, who can be let go quickly. However, sometimes temp hires are also a prelude to full-time hires in the future. Since the bottom of the recession in September 2009, professional and business services have added 1.5 million jobs, according to the Labor Department.

The manufacturing sector reported an increase in 11,000 jobs in June, mainly driven by 7,000 new jobs in the automobile sector. On a campaign trip, Obama visited Ohio and Pennsylvania, where some companies are benefiting from the uptick in automobile sales.

But in many other areas, such as retailing, transportation, finance, and leisure and hospitality, there was little change in the jobs picture. The government sector continued to shrink, with the US Postal Service laying off 6,200 people.

“The federal government is now losing jobs,” says Brown. “State and local governments are recovering but not very rapidly.”

In fact, Brown says that, looking at education jobs on an nonseasonally adjusted basis, it appears that about 50,000 more teachers and school bus drivers lost their jobs in June than a year ago.

“It indicates there are still pressures on state and local governments,” he says.

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