Unemployment rate slips to 9.2%

A disappointing report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning showed the nation's unemployment rate slipped to 9.2% in June, up from 9.1% in May.

Only 18,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added in June, according to the Employment Situation summary, released Friday morning.

Construction employment, which fell sharply during the 2007-to-2009 period, was "essentially unchanged" in June. It has shown little change since early 2010, the report said.

Since March, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 545,000, and the unemployment rate has risen by 0.4 percentage points.