Unemployment Rate Jumps to 5.7 Percent, Four-Year High

The Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate in the United States at the end of July stood at 5.7 percent, the highest rate in four years.

Labor said that nonfarm payrolls dropped by 51,000 in July, the seventh-straight month for declines in employment in the U.S. Analysts had expected a decrease of around 70,000 jobs in July.

But analysts had also predicted the unemployment rate would rise to 5.6 percent. The unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in June. April saw an unemployment rate of 5 percent. The speed of the increase in the rate over the past three months is the fastest in 26 years.

In the seven months of 2008, the economy has lost a total of 463,000 jobs. Payroll declines were revised downward in May and June by a total of 26,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department.

The sectors experiencing the largest drop in jobs were Manufacturing (35,000 jobs), Construction (22,000 jobs), Retail (16,500 jobs), and Temporary help (20,000 jobs).

Gaining sectors included Health Care, which added 33,000 jobs, and Government, with an increase of 25,000 jobs.

Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama used the news to push his idea of a new economic stimulus plan. His plan would use a "windfall profits" tax on oil companies to finance a fresh round of checks to American taxpayers. Estimates say the checks would be $500 per person.

Obama said at a gathering in Florida Friday, "Today, we learned that 51,000 jobs were lost last month, the seventh straight month of job loss -- now totaling 463,00 jobs lost since the beginning of this year. I've already called for an economic stimulus package on two different occasions this year, and much of what I've proposed has passed in Congress. These efforts have made some difference. But with job losses mounting, prices rising, increased turbulence in our financial system, and a growing credit crunch, we need to do more.