WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added only 80,000 jobs in June, a third consecutive month of weak hiring that shows the economy is still struggling three years after the recession ended.

The unemployment rate remains unchanged at 8.2 percent, the Labor Department said in its report this morning.

The economy added an average of just 75,000 jobs a month in the April-June quarter. That’s one-third of the 226,000 a month created in the first quarter.

For the first six months of the year, U.S. employers added an average of 150,000 jobs a month. That’s fewer than the 161,000 a month for the first half of 2011. And it suggests that three years after the Great Recession officially ended, the job market is weakening instead of strengthening.

“It’s a disappointing report,” said George Mokrzan, director of economics at Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio. He said the job gains are consistent with sluggish economic growth.