WASHINGTON (AP) - Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, suggesting that the economy's road to recovery will be a bumpy one.
Economists had expected 363,000 job cuts last months, and that the jobless rate would rise to 9.6 percent from 9.4 percent in May.
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.
The government also says the number of newly laid-off workers filing for unemployment insurance dropped last week, a sign job cuts are easing.
The Labor Department said Thursday that initial jobless benefit claims fell by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 614,000. A survey by Thomson Reurters says that nearly matches analysts' estimates.
The total jobless benefit rolls fell for the second time in three weeks. The number of continuing claims is down 53,000 to 6.7 million, defying analysts' expectations of a small rise.
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