125,000 Jobs Lost In June, But Unemployment Rate Drops Slightly

The monthly unemployment rate dropped slightly from 9.7 % to 9.5% in June, but the economy also shed 125,000 jobs, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

The bureau attributed the lost jobs to the decline in Census 2010 employment. 225,000 Census taking positions and related temporary jobs were phased out last month.

The data also shows that the private sector added an additional 83,000 jobs in June, a circumstance that President Barack Obama trumpeted Friday.

“[The report] showed the six-straight month of job growth in the private sector,” Obama said during brief remarks at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. “We’re headed in the right direction.”

Although June’s unemployment rate is the lowest in nearly a year, the new numbers show that 14.6 million Americans continue to be out of work.