Yikes! ....... The Jobless Numbers

[marmar]

Payrolls plunge 598,000, the most since 1974
Unemployment rate jumps to 7.6% on widespread job losses

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch


WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The fury of the recession intensified in January, as the unemployment rate jumped to 7.6% while nonfarm payrolls fell by the largest amount in 34 years, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 598,000 in January after a revised loss of 577,000 in December, the government said. It's the largest payroll loss since December 1974, according to a survey of workplaces. Payrolls fell by 597,000 in November.

"Job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors," said Keith Hall, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturing saw its largest decline in 26 years.

About 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession began just over a year ago; about half of them have been lost in the past three months following the collapse of Lehman Bros.

Total hours worked in the economy fell by 0.7% in January and were down 4.6% from a year earlier. The average workweek was steady at a record-low 33.3 hours.

Meanwhile, a separate survey of households showed 11.6 million people were unemployed and looking for work, totaling 7.6% of the workforce, compared with 7.2% in December. It's the highest unemployment rate since September 1992. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Payrolls-plunge-598000-most-34/story.aspx?guid=%7BA5FE8FAF%2DC299%2D4EB4%2DBDE6%2DBADB3C394840%7D

[bdamomma]

1. throw that figure in the Republicans faces

7.6%

[fasttense]

2. Yeah but the U6 is 13.9%

That's over 20 million people underemployed, discouraged from looking for a job for over a year or more and unemployed. That is the population of a large state.

[Zynx]

3. I will say, underemployment has never been counted when comparing to historic numbers.

Discouraged used to be counted. That's the most accurate number when making historical and also with many cross-national comparisons.

[JCMach1]

4. Really not good ...

:(

[kentuck]

5. A half-million plus every month !

for the last 4 months. This is very, very serious.

[leftchick]

6. is it torches and pitchforks time?

[bdamomma]

7. it is way past due.

something needs to be done.