The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.5 in June, down from 9.7 percent in May, the Labor Department announced Friday.

For African Americans, the unemployment rate was 15.4 percent, down from 15.5 percent the previous month. Whites were unemployed at a rate of 8.6 percent in June.

Overall, 14.6 million people were unemployed in June, meaning they were looking for work and could not find it. The enemployment rate does not include individuals who have quit looking for jobs -- the so-called discouraged workers.

The numbers showed signs that the economy is continuing its slow pace toward recovery:

Although the economy lost 125,000 jobs in June, that tally included 225,000 temporary U.S. Census workers. Private-sector employers added 83,000 jobs, up from 33,000 in May.

Private-sector job growth has risen every month this year.

Below is a breakdown of the unemployment numbers by gender and race:

Adult Women: 7.8%

Adult Men: 9.9%

White: 8.6%

Black: 15.4%

Asian: 7.7%

Hispanic: 12.4

Editor's note: The figure for Asians was not seasonally adjusted.

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