WASHINGTON, July 2 -- In June, the hotels are full, the restaurants extend their hours, and the theme parks run their longest shifts of the year. American employers in leisure and hospitality cut 61,000 workers anyway.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that the economy added 57,000 jobs in June, well below the pace that would suggest a labor market holding its ground. The unemployment rate held at 4.2 percent, with 7.1 million Americans out of work. Those numbers, taken together, read as stable on the surface. The detail inside them does not.

The leisure and hospitality loss is the figure that disrupts any narrative of resilience. June is the month that sector hires, not cuts. Restaurants and bars add staff. Hotels fill r...