Jobless Rate Falls to 9.5 Percent in June

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in June from 9.8 percent a month earlier, according to statistics released by the Department of Labor Friday morning. But the economic news was still disappointing: The jobless rate fell because 652,000 people gave up on their job searches and left the labor force. People who have given up looking for work aren't counted in the data. And payrolls declined by 125,000 as the government cut 225,000 temporary workers conducting the 2010 census. In initial reactions, economists saw the numbers as a sign that America's job-loss recovery is years away. Stock markets in New York had a muted reaction to the report in trading Friday morning.