February job loss report

March 6, 10:55 AMProgressive Politics ExaminerJay McDonough

Previous Next

2 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Progressive Politics Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Ugh. 651,000.  We all knew it was coming, but it doesn't make it any less shocking. 

In a stark measure of the recession’s toll, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the national unemployment rate surged to 8.1 percent last month, its highest in 25 years. The economy has now shed more than 4.4 million jobs since the recession started in December 2007.

And economists expect that unemployment will continue to rise for the rest of the year and into early 2010, with the unemployment rate reaching 9 to 10 percent by the time a recovery begins. But even then, with so many job losses centered in manufacturing, economists say that many positions devoured during this recession will not be coming back. (Link)

February makes the fourth consecutive month of over half a million job loses.  If part time workers looking for full time employment are included, the unemployment rate would be 14.8%.

(Photo: A career fair in New York on Thursday.  Justin Lane/European Pressphoto Agency