U.S. employers cut jobs in June for a sixth consecutive month as soaring fuel prices and a slowing economy forced companies to reduce costs, Bloomberg reported.

Payrolls fell by 62,000, close to economists’ median forecast, after a loss of 62,000 jobs in May exceeded initial reports, the U.S. Department of Labor said today.

The jobless rate remained at 5.5 percent after jumping in May by the most in two decades.

Job losses, along with record gasoline prices and tumbling home values, make it more likely consumer spending will falter once the lift from federal tax rebates fades.

A weakening labor market may also prompt Federal Reserve policy makers to put off their first interest-rate increase since 2006.

“The job market remains weak and will probably stay weak for a while,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, N.C.

“The Fed is still on inflation watch, but the price pressures from commodities have not moved into the wage-setting process,” helping to limit price pressures, he said.

Stock futures rallied and Treasuries fell after the report.

The June figures brought total job losses for the first half of 2008 to 438,000. In 2007, the economy generated 91,000 jobs a month on average. Revisions subtracted 52,000 from payroll figures previously reported for April and May.

Floods in Iowa and the Midwest had little impact on the June employment report, the Labor Department said.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed that U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped 16,000 last week to 404,000, Reuters reported.

The four-week average of new jobless claims, a better gauge of underlying labor trends because it irons out week-to-week volatility, increased for the fourth straight week to 390,500, the highest reading since October 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.