Economy loses jobs

Another disappointing report (see post below). Payrolls fell by 131,000 in July, though a large portion of that was the result of temporary Census workers being let go. The private sector added only 71,000 jobs, well under what had been expected - and another sign that businesses simply aren't hiring in large enough numbers to bolster the recovery. The unemployment rate stayed level at 9.5 percent. More bad news: The June data was revised downward - and sharply - with a loss of 221,000 jobs instead of the initially reported 125,000. Only 31,000 private sector jobs were added, also way lower than first reported. From Bloomberg:

"To the extent that we have a labor market recovery, it's a slow one," said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, who projected a gain of 70,000 in private payrolls. "I don't see anything to indicate that the third quarter will be better."

Here's the BLS press release.