Employers cut more jobs than expected in June, suggesting economic recovery might not be as close as some analysts had figured.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that 467,000 jobs disappeared last month, bringing the drop-off since the recession began in December 2007 to 6.5 million.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched up to 9.5%, the nation's highest since August 1983.

"This sort of confirms that nobody should have been popping corks last month and that this recession has already been a long slog," said Laura Dresser, a labor economist and associate director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. "Hopefully, it's slowing down, but we're still shrinking."

Terry Ludeman, retired chief labor economist for Wisconsin, didn't see many hopeful signs in the report.

"There are a lot of things that are kind of frightening. I don't see a real quick end to this downturn," said Ludeman, an economic consultant based in Jefferson. "I think a lot of it is caused by financial markets, and they don't seem to be recovering very quickly. So until they do and money gets freer, I think we'll be in tough straits for a while."

Financial markets retreated further following the jobs report. Major stock indexes fell 2.6% Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average giving up 223.32 points to end the week at 8280.74, the lowest close since May 22. It was the average's worst day since April 20.

Fewer are spending

In addition to financial input, the economy lacks spending from consumers, which is further exacerbated by cuts in jobs, wages and work hours, said Michael Rosen, an economist at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

"In an economy where, for the last 20 years, two-thirds of the engine has been consumer spending, we're shedding almost half a million jobs a month. Where is the demand for goods and services going to come from?" said Rosen, who advocates more stimulus spending from the federal government. "If people are seeing their incomes go down and they're actually saving more because they're concerned about the future, in the short run, all of that drains demand out of the economy."

The jobs report showed cutbacks spread widely across industries, with temporary help services and automotive manufacturing standing out. Temporary services are considered a leading indicator of hiring trends and contributed about a third of the 118,000 jobs lost in the professional and business services industry last month.

Manufacturing fell by 136,000 jobs in June, one-fifth of those positions at motor vehicle and parts makers.