As economy drops jobs, paychecks drop some weight

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
2 hrs 13 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Americans lucky enough to still have a job are noticing something unpleasant in their paychecks: They're making less money.

Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected, and the jobless rate hit a 26-year high of 9.5 percent. Just as worrisome, wages shrank to their lowest in nearly a year.

The bleak news Thursday from the Labor Department underscored one of the big threats to an economic turnaround: Rising joblessness and falling wages for those still working could send Americans back into spending hibernation and short-circuit any recovery.