Unemployment Rate Edges Up in June

The nation’s unemployment rate edged up to 4.5% during June, from 4.4% in May, as the sputtering economy suffered a sharp loss of 114,000 jobs, mostly in manufacturing.

The manufacturing sector has been in a recession for eight months, which now threatens to spill over into the rest of the economy.

Businesses have slashed payrolls by more than 250,000 since the end of March, the largest three-month decline since the last recession a decade ago.