For the second consecutive month, employers added scarcely any jobs in June, startling evidence that the economic recovery is stumbling.

All levels of government shed workers, and hiring by companies continued to slow, resulting in a meager 18,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs last month, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The government also revised downward the small gain for the previous month to 25,000 new jobs, less than half the original estimate.

Although the government’s survey of employers showed a slight expansion in jobs, a separate survey of households found that more people were searching for work than in the previous month, causing the unemployment rate to rise to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent in May.

Economists were stunned. They had been expecting job growth to strengthen in June as oil prices eased and supply disruptions caused by the Japanese tsunami and earthquake receded. Instead, the government’s monthly snapshot of the labor market showed that several industries, including construction, finance and temporary services, shrank. At the same time, leading indicators like wages and the length of the average workweek, which tend to grow before employers begin adding more jobs, actually contracted.