US jobs data much better than expected

There was good news on the US jobs front as employers there cut far fewer workers than economists had expected in July.

The number of jobs lost was the least in any month since last August.

The jobless rate fell to 9.4 percent of the working population from June’s 9.5 percent as 247,000 jobs were cut.

It was the first time in 15 months that the US unemployment rate had fallen but experts said that could be due to the fact that the labour force shrank in July, suggesting jobless workers may have given up looking for new work.

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the US economy has shed 6.7 million jobs and the number of long-term unemployed continues to rise.

The July figures show that the labour market deterioration is slowing and things are turning around , but it will be a long haul and economists believes the US unemployment rate will top 10 percent this year.

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tags: Unemployment, USA