U.S. lost 62,000 jobs in June

WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- The official U.S. unemployment rate held at 5.5 percent in June but with the loss of 62,000 non-farm jobs, the government said.

Employment "continued to trend down" in construction, manufacturing and employment services, but gained in healthcare and mining, the Department of Labor said Thursday.

In June 2007, there were 7 million persons classified as unemployed, a number that has risen to 8.5 million, the report said.

The number of people who have lost jobs in the past five weeks decreased in June, but those losing jobs in the past 12 months has risen by 952,000, the report said.

Wages in June rose 0.3 percent, about 6 cents per hour, the report said.