Washington, D.C. ? The fallout from the economic downturn spread into new corners of the job market in July, adding to the deep stresses facing American workers.

The unemployment rate jumped yet again as employers slashed jobs for the seventh consecutive month, the Labor Department said Friday. And the job losses weren’t just in the long-troubled construction and manufacturing sectors. Trucking companies, telecommunications firms and car dealers all eliminated thousands of jobs, too, as the troubles in the nation’s economy showed new breadth that undermines any hopes of even a tentative recovery in the second half of the year.

The jobless rate rose to 5.7 percent in July, the highest in four years. It is up from 5.5 percent in June and 4.7 percent a year earlier. Employers cut their payrolls by 51,000 net jobs, bringing the total reduction in the nation’s job count this year to 463,000. The ranks of the unemployed increased by 285,000 people in the month, continuing a steady deterioration in the job market that began at the end of last year.