Another disappointing month for U.S. job market

The U.S. unemployment rate rose for the ninth straight month, climbing to 9.5% from 9.4%, and hitting another 26-year high in June.

The battered labor market took a step backwards last month as employers trimmed more jobs from their payrolls in June. There was a net loss of 467,000 jobs in June, compared with a revised loss of 322,000 jobs in May. This was the first time in four months that the number of jobs lost rose from the prior month.

Nearly 3.4 million jobs have been lost during the first half of 2009, more than the 3.1 million lost in all of 2008.