CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new jobs report out Friday showed the U.S. economy added 80,000 jobs in June, keeping the unemployment rate flat at 8.2 percent.
Some local economists said that job seekers should probably expect several more months like June.
"The recovery remains on the slow track," Wells Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner said.
At the Employment Security Commission in east Charlotte, Melanie Shipp said she has a lot of skills from previous jobs. She's been searching for a position in accounting, teaching, or executive administration for about two years.
"It is frustrating to apply and apply, application after application, resume after resume," Shipp said.
Vitner said of the 80,000 jobs added, many were temporary and relatively low-paying. They include 25,000 jobs in temporary staffing and 13,000 in the hospitality and leisure industry in businesses such as bars, hotels and restaurants.
Vitner said a lot of business owners are not hiring because they are worried about costs in three areas: health care, Europe and taxes.
He said the business owners do not know how much President Barack Obama's newly upheld Affordable Care Act will cost them in health insurance benefits; how Europe's financial crisis will affect them; and what kind of tax policy will be in place next year, depending on who is elected president.
"It's (them saying,) ‘I'm not going to take a whole lot of risk until I have a better idea of how this is all going to play out,'" Vitner said.
That reluctance to hire is something Shipp is facing first-hand.
"It's hard to hear it, in person -- 'We'll have to consider you in the future,' that kind of thing," she said.
The jobs report also had a big impact on Mitt Romney and Obama's campaigns.
Romney's supporters seized on it as proof that a change in leadership is needed.
"Eighty-thousand jobs is a step in the wrong direction," Republican N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis said, speaking on behalf of the Romney campaign. "We're not seeing any kind of sustainable recovery."
But Friday via satellite, Obama's spokesman Ben LaBolt refused to dwell on the report, talking instead about Obama's plans to create more jobs.
"He believes we should build the economy from the middle class out by investing in education and investing in research and development," LaBolt said.
Political analyst Dr. Michael Bitzer said focusing on jobs is key for Romney's campaign.
"This can only help them if they decide to stay on message," he said.
Bitzer said that Obama's camp can endure this unemployment rate for only so long.
"If they don't see a drop from 8.2 percent to even 8 percent by, let's say August, September, when the campaign hits into high gear, it's going to be tough selling for the Obama campaign," he said.