Unemployment Rate: What June’s Jobless Numbers Mean

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in June, but don’t be fooled: “The economic recovery has lost significant steam in the last few months,” writes David Leonhardt at The New York Times. The reason for the drop is because a large number of people gave up looking for work altogether—meaning they weren’t included in the official unemployment tally. Other discouraging numbers: Total hours fell for the first time since February, and the average hourly pay dropped. Leonhardt writes, “The overall picture isn’t so much of a double-dip recession as it is of a badly wounded economy recovering at a slow pace.”