The unemployment rate spiked again in July, to 5.7 percent, its highest level in more than four years and a strong signal that come Election Day millions of Americans will still be hunting for work.

“We are not seeing a catastrophic collapse in the job market, like you often see in recessions,” said James Glassman, senior domestic economist for JPMorgan Chase. “What we are seeing instead is a steady hemorrhaging of jobs, and that is going to continue until housing stabilizes and stops dragging down the rest of the economy.”

The nation’s employers cut their payrolls for the seventh consecutive month, this time by 51,000 jobs, the government reported Friday. For millions still at work, hours were reduced, a hidden form of unemployment, and the average raise was less than enough to keep up with inflation.

The steady erosion in payrolls  463,000 jobs have disappeared since January  cut across nearly every sector in July. Teenagers, 16 to 19, trying to land work, were particularly hard hit. Their unemployment rate, 20.3 percent, up 2.2 percentage points in just a month, was the highest since 1992, contributing significantly to the jump in the overall unemployment rate. That rate jumped from 5.5 percent in June and 5 percent in April.