Official figures show that US employment fell for a second month in a row in July as more temporary census jobs ended while private hiring rose less than expected.
Employment fell 131,000, the Labor Department said, as temporary jobs to conduct the country's census dropped by 143,000.
Private employment, considered a better gauge of labour market health, rose 71,000 after climbing by 31,000 in June. In addition, the government revised figures for May and June to show 97,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
Analysts had forecast overall employment falling 65,000 and private-sector hiring increasing by 90,000.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5% in July for a second straight month, just below market expectations for a rise to 9.6%. The steady jobless rate largely reflected a drop in the labour force as discouraged workers gave up the search for jobs.
Job growth has taken a step back after fairly strong gains between February and April, putting in jeopardy the economy's recovery from its worst downturn since the 1930s.
The state of the jobs market is one of the factors that will determine the timing of the Federal Reserve's first interest rate rise since reducing overnight lending rates to near zero in December 2008.
