When the recession ended in June 2009, the unemployment rate was 9.5 percent. Last month, it was 9.2 percent, up from 9.1 percent in May.
But government budget cuts affected more than government employees. The ripple effects in government funding also led to layoffs in what had been one of the strongest sectors throughout the recession: the health and education sector, both highly reliant on governments for funding. The education sector includes nonpublic institutions such as colleges and universities, privately run day-care centers, and tech schools.
In Pennsylvania, for example, legislators cut funding to state colleges 20 percent. John Cavanaugh, chancellor of the state system, said layoffs were possible.
"Where the higher-ed sector was pretty strong for decades, there's now a lot of scrambling to stay flat," said Stephen Hicks, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the health and education sector consistently added jobs. June's situation was flat, with a 17,400-job decline in education jobs offset by a similar increase in health jobs.
The flatness is significant in the Philadelphia region, which has relied on "eds and meds" for economic stability.
"We apparently believe in Washington and in the state capitals that the way to world economic domination is through cutting education spending," said economist Joel Naroff, who works in Bucks County.
"You can hear my cynicism, but it's the reality of budget cuts. There is no such thing as a free budget cut," he said.
Naroff cautioned that one month did not a trend make, but said that it did bear watching.
Jobs were added in manufacturing, mining, retail, wholesale trade, and computer services. Financial services lost 15,000 jobs in insurance, real estate, credit, and banking. Construction also kept falling, down 9,000 jobs.
