The U.S. economy added 882,000 jobs in the first six months of 2010, and 593,000 of them were in the private sector, according to the "Economic Snapshot" for July 2010 authored by Christian Weller, senior fellow at the D.C.-based Center for American Progress and  associate professor of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts ...]]>

The U.S. economy added 882,000 jobs in the first six months of 2010, and 593,000 of them were in the private sector, according to the "Economic Snapshot" for July 2010 authored by Christian Weller, senior fellow at the D.C.-based Center for American Progress and  associate professor of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

The report attributes some of the private job growth to federal stimulus spending, but warns that state and local government employment has declined for the past four months.

By June, the economy had 7.5 million fewer jobs than at the start of the recession in December 2007. The unemployment rate was 9.5%, but 15.4% among African-Americans and 12.4% among Hispanics. Youth unemployment stood at 25.7%. The unemployment rate for people without a high school diploma wast 14.1%, compared with 10.8%  for those with a high school diploma and 4.4% for those with a college degree.

Moreover, in June 2010, 6.8 million people had been looking for a job for 27 weeks or more.