U.S. job losses spike in June, dampen recovery hopes

Manufacturing was one of the few areas to show a smaller drop in June, down 136,000 after a 156,000 fall in May.

A separate government report on Thursday showed orders for U.S. manufactured goods in May rose 1.2 percent, the largest increase in nearly a year.

Still, it was the ninth straight month that more than 100,000 jobs were lost in that sector.

The median time all individuals were out of a job grew to 17.9 weeks in June, the longest on records dating to 1967.

The weak labor market also continued to undercut real wages. Average hourly earnings in June were flat with May at $18.53 an hour, while the length of the average workweek fell to 33.0 hours from 33.1 in May, pressuring consumer incomes.

Over the past year, average weekly hours have risen just 2.7 percent, the smallest 12-month change since the period ended September 2005.

(Additional reporting by John Parry in New York and Emily Kaiser in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)