Grim new unemployment numbers from the government show that 651,000 people lost their jobs in February and the jobless rate hit 8.1 percent, the highest in 25 years.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a loss of 650,000 jobs in February.
The survey of households found 12.5 million people are now unemployed, the most since records started being kept in 1940. Total job losses over the last six months are more than 3.3 million.
The unemployment rate jumped to 8.1 percent from 7.6 percent in January. That was the highest since December 1983, when the jobless rate was 8.3 percent.
In February, the number of persons who worked part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) rose by 787,000, reaching 8.6 million. The number of such workers rose by 3.7 million over the past 12 months. This category includes persons who would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full time jobs.
Construction companies eliminated 104,000 jobs, while factories cut 168,000. Retailers slashed nearly 40,000. Professional and business services cut 180,000, with 78,000 jobs lost at temporary-help agencies. Financial companies reduced payrolls by 44,000. Leisure and hospitality firms eliminated 33,000 positions.
Education, health, and government services were the only industries spared from drastic cuts.
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March 7th, 2009 at 8:03 am
If there is anything positive about a recession, it’s the fact that most of the fat gets trimmed-off of the companies. I say most because there are still the ones who have connections or get axed through no fault of their own.
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