U.S. loses jobs for sixth straight month

The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the economy lost 62,000 non-farm jobs last month. It also revised upward May's job losses from 49,000 to 62,000. The unemployment rate was steady at 5.5 percent after jumping half a percentage point last month.

"Each additional month of job losses makes it more difficult to argue that the U.S. is not in a recession," said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. "To put it in perspective, we haven't seen four months of losses outside of a recession."

Employment kept falling in construction, manufacturing and employment services, the Labor Department said. Health care and mining added jobs.

"The labor market, in the most positive spin, is that it's very soft if not weakening further," said Jay Bryson, Global Economist with Wachovia Corp.

Achuthan noted that other leading economic indicators including consumer confidence, housing activity, credit conditions are pointing downward.

"All of these, these are drivers of the business cycle and they have yet to turn up," he said. "That's probably the most important thing, that tells us that this downward trend is likely extend."