“The economic recovery took a tentative step in the right direction Friday, as the private sector added more jobs in June than in May, while the unemployment rate fell to 9.5%.”
– Forbes, 7/2/2010

 

•  Today, the Labor Department reported that the private sector created 83,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate dropped from 9.7% in May to 9.5% in June, the lowest level since July 2009. “Nonfarm payrolls fell by 125,000 during the month of June, but the Labor Department stressed that the drop reflects a 225,000 decrease in the number of temporary census workers. Meanwhile, the private-sector added 83,000 jobs, better than the 33,000 it added in May, which was revised lower from 41,000. The unemployment rate also fell to 9.5%, from 9.7%, lower than the 9.8% anticipated by Wall Street...”  [Forbes, 7/2/2010]

•  According to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in June, planned job reductions were 39,358, which was 47% less than in June 2009 and the fewest in a decade. “It was the third straight month in which there were fewer than 40,000 layoffs announced. For the second quarter of the year, job-reduction announcements were down 63% to 116,494, the fewest since the second quarter of 2000. And for the first six months of the year, job-reduction announcements were down 67% to 297,677, the fewest since the first half of 2000.”  [MarketWatch, 7/1/2010]

 

 

•  Today, President Obama announced investment in 66 new Recovery Act broadband projects across the nation. According to the grantees, these new projects “will not only directly create approximately 5,000 jobs up front, but will also help spur economic development in some of the nation’s hardest-hit communities, helping create jobs for years to come.  In total, tens of millions of Americans and over 685,000 businesses, 900 healthcare facilities and 2,400 schools in all fifty states stand to benefit from the awards…. With the awards being announced [today], more than $2.7 billion in Recovery Act broadband grants and loans will have been awarded to more than 260 projects across the country since December 2009.”    [White House, 7/1/2010; CNN, 7/2/2010]