Unemployment holds at 9.5 percent

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy shed 131,000 jobs in July but the unemployment rate stayed at 9.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.

The Labor Department said the economy gained 71,000 private-sector jobs but lost 143,000 temporary government jobs as the U.S. Census Bureau winds down jobs linked to the 2010 Census. In total, in July, the government shed 202,000 workers.

A month ago, the Census Bureau laid off 225,000 census-takers.

More than half of the private jobs added in July, 36,000, came from the manufacturing sector.

Healthcare added 27,000 jobs; mining companies added another 7,000. The finance industry lost 17,000 jobs and the sector defined as professional and business services lost 13,000.

Transportation and warehousing added 12,000.

"The pain continues for American's workers … despite soaring corporate profits, record corporate assets and ongoing gross domestic product growth," said Christine Owens, National Employment Law Project executive director.

 "Today's data show how important it was for Congress to restore the extension of jobless benefits and job-saving aid to the states," she said.

The statistics bureau said the official number of unemployed people stayed at 14.6 million, with 6.6 million of those having been without work for at least 27 weeks. About 1.2 million people are considered "discouraged" and have stopped looking for work because they don't think there are jobs available for them.

The White House apparently had expected bad employment news, sending Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner out early this week to issue a warning. Geithner appeared Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" saying, "It's possible you're going to have a couple months where (the unemployment rate) goes up."