Unemployment Rate Falls to 9.4%

The U.S. unemployment rate for July unexpectedly fell to 9.4%, from 9.5% in June, the Labor Department said Friday.

Payrolls fell by 247,000 jobs, down from 443,000 cuts in June, Labor said.

Economists had forecast the jobless rate would rise to 9.6%, Bloomberg reported. Payrolls were forecast to fall by 325,000.

Factory payrolls fell by 52,000 jobs, the smallest level in a year. Auto industry jobs created 28,000 jobs. Service industries lost 119,000 jobs.

The latest numbers brought the total jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007 to about 6.7 million — the biggest such decline in any post-World War II slump, Bloomberg reported.