By Lee A. Daniels

The nation’s unemployment rate in June declined slightly, as did the number of people counted as being out of work.

But no one’s happy about it.

Instead, the numbers compiled for the monthly federal jobs report are universally seen as a possible indication the nascent economic recovery that appeared earlier this year to be taking hold may be, if not illusory, significantly weaker than first thought.

The official overall unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in June, from 9.7 percent the previous month, and the official number also declined slightly to stand at 14.6 million. But there was no real potency in those declines. They were achieved largely by the 652,000 jobless who stopped looking for work during the month. On its own, the private sector added only 83,000 jobs during the month. That’s more than a third less than the monthly number of jobs the economy needs to add just to keep up with the number of new workers entering the labor force.

The unemployment numbers – expected, but still disappointing – underscored the dismal and dispiriting track record the Great Recession is charting at the 30-month mark, the subject of a report the Pew Research Center released early last week. Among its major findings, the study found that 55 percent of all workers have been negatively affected in some way by the Great Recession – either being laid off for some period of time, taking a cut in pay or a cut in hours worked, or forced to go on part-time status.

They’ve also dramatized the plight of those jobless workers who, having reached the end of their federal unemployment benefits, have been left adrift by the political gridlock over the matter in the Congress. Wednesday the Senate failed for the fourth time in a month to pass legislation extending benefits to the long-term unemployed. Then it adjourned for the July 4th recess. During June, 1.2 million jobless workers lost their federal benefits; most have long since exhausted other sources of income. While the Senate is in recess, the number of jobless Americans in that category will grow to 2 million.