US Unemployment rate stuck at 8.2 percent

128,000 more Americans had jobs in June compared to one month earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unfortunately, this was not enough to move the unemployment rate, which remained unchanged at 8.2 percent. The professional and business services industry added 47,000 jobs, while employment in other major industries changed little over the month.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics: "The Employment Situation - June 2012"

The national monthly jobs report contains much more than just the unemployment rate and distribution of new jobs. Highlights include:

• Unemployment among teenagers ages 16-19 fell almost a full percentage point, to 23.7 percent.
• As we discussed yesterday, blacks had a much higher unemployment rate (14.4 percent) than whites (7.4 percent), Asians (6.3 percent), or Hispanics (11 percent).
• Those without a high school credential were much more likely to be unemployed (12.6 percent) than those with the credential (8.4 percent), some college or a two year degree (7.5 percent), or a college degree (4.1 percent).
• 8.2 million workers were underemployed (working part-time for economic reasons) in June, an increase of 112,000.
• There are still 5.4 million workers among the ranks of the long term unemployed (27 week or more). 
• The unemployment rate does not include the 2.5 million workers who are not counted as part of the labor force. 821,000 of them are discouraged workers--those who want to work but have given up looking.