AP: Jobless rate climbs as 51,000 jobs vanish

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080801/D929NOT80.html

Aug 1, 5:09 PM (ET)

By JEANNINE AVERSA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Stores, factories and other businesses large and small showed workers the door last month, sending unemployment to its highest rate in four years and adding to the evidence an economic recovery remains far off.

Employers clamped down on hiring and cut 51,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday. The economy has shed jobs each month this year - 463,000 in all.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent, up from 5.5 percent in June.

The jobs report contributed to another day of grim news for the economy. General Motors reported a staggering quarterly loss of more than $15 billion and said its sales fell by more than a quarter from last year.


Jobs brochures on display at a state unemployment office in Sunnyvale, Calif., Wednesday, July 30, 2008. The nation's unemployment rate climbed to a four-year high of 5.7 percent in July as employers cut 51,000 jobs, dashing the hopes of an influx of young people looking for summer work. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)


The Commerce Department said spending on construction projects around the country dropped 0.4 percent in June as cutbacks in home building eclipsed gains in commercial construction.

And manufacturers' business was flat in July. The Institute for Supply Management's reading of activity from the producers of cars, airplanes, appliances and other goods hit 50, down from 50.2 in June. A reading above 50 signals growth.

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