US job losses till July reach 6.5 million

With US companies laying off 371,000 in July, 6.5 million Americans have lost their jobs so far, eversince the onset of recession in December 2007.
However, July's 371,000 redundancies in the private sector was the lowest since October 2008, according to payrolls firm Automatic Data Processing (ADP).

ADP said that private employment in the service-providing sector fell by 202,000. Employment in the goods-producing sector declined 1,69,000, with employment in the manufacturing sector dropping 99,000, its smallest monthly decline since September of 2008.

Large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more workers, saw employment decline by 74,000, while medium-size businesses with between 50 and 499 workers declined 1,59,000.

Employment among small-size businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, declined 138,000. Since reaching peak employment in January 2008, small-size businesses have shed nearly 2.4 million jobs.

In June, construction employment dropped 64,000. This was its 30th consecutive monthly decline, and brings the total decline in construction jobs since the peak in January 2007 to 1,483,000. Employment in the financial services sector dropped 26,000, the 20th consecutive monthly decline.

The US Bureau of Labour Statistics will publish jobs data for July on Friday and most analysts forecast that the unemployment rate rise from 9.5 per cent from 9.6 per cent in June, which will be a 26-year high.

The continuing job losses are a sign that the depressed labour market will pose a problem to President Obama's administration since the US economy is still facing recession.