The Department of Labor has just released unemployment figures for July, and while the unemployment rate remains at 9.5%, the economy shed another 131,000 jobs during the month.  The federal jobs sector took the biggest hit, with the loss of 143,000 temporary census jobs during the month.  The private sector actually added jobs--71,000 total with the manufacturing sector adding 36,000.  

There are 14.6 million Americans classified as unemployed.  Here's a look at the trend:

As for some of the other categories we like to track:

About 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in July, an increase of 340,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. 

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.2 million discouraged workers in July, up by 389,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Read the full Bureau of Labor Statistics release here.