US jobless rate rises to hit 8.1%
The US jobless rate jumped in February to 8.1%, according to official
figures from the Labor Department.
The number of people out of work rose by 651,000 during the month. Both
figures were bigger than expected.
The number of job cuts in January was revised up to 655,000 while
December's losses were pushed up to 681,000.
December's figure was the biggest job loss in a single month since
October 1949. The unemployment rate was the highest since December 1983.
The extra 161,000 jobs added to December and January's figures mean that
almost two million jobs have been lost in the past three months.
A total of 12.5 million people are now unemployed in the US.
"It just continues to show the grim state of the labour market, which
suggests a deepening US recession," said Joe Manimbo, currency trader at
Ruesch International in Washington.
There were further signs of companies cutting back on their spending
with the news that the number of people who wanted to work full-time but
were forced to work part-time for economic reasons rising 787,000 to 8.6
million.
FEBRUARY'S BIG JOB CUTS
# Goodyear: 5,000
# Macy's: 7,000
# General Motors: 3,400
# Estee Lauder: 2,000
# Lincoln Electric: 900
The average working week stood at 33.3 hours, matching the record low
set in December.
Jobs were cut in most sectors, with only government, education and
health services adding staff.
In the manufacturing sector 168,000 jobs were cut in the month while
104,000 jobs went in construction and 375,000 were cut in the service
sector.
"The payroll numbers are very weak. With the revisions, we've had
significant job losses in the past four months," said Gary Thayer,
senior economist at Wachovia Securities in St Louis.
"Companies are reducing workers and output in order to bring inventories
into line with weak sales."
Among the companies that announced big job cuts in February were
Goodyear, Estee Lauder, Macy's and General Motors.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress earlier in the week
that economic indicators "show little sign of improvement" and suggest
that "labour market conditions may have worsened further in recent
weeks".
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news. bbc.co.uk/ go/pr/fr/ -/1/hi/business/ 7927790.stm
Published: 2009/03/06 14:19:55 GMT
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