Unemployment Rate Hits 9-Year High

The nation's unemployment rate shot up to 6.4 percent in June, the highest level in more than nine years, in an economic slump that has added nearly a million people to jobless rolls in the past three months.

Businesses slashed 30,000 jobs in June for the fifth straight month, with cuts heavily concentrated in the nation's factories, the Labor Department reported today.

The 0.3 percentage point increase from May's 6.1 percent rate was the largest month-to-month rise since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. That surprised analysts, who predicted a smaller rise to 6.2 percent. The last time the overall rate was higher was in March 1994.

Wall Street reacted with stocks falling. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 54 points and the Nasdaq dropped by 8 points.
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Good to see the Bush recovery taking effect.