Job Losses Hit 3.6M; Unemployment at 7.6%

Makes 2008 worst year for employment since 1945

(NEWSER) - Employers cut 524,000 jobs in December, which, on the heels of November’s decline of 584,000, made 2008 the darkest year of job losses since the end of World War II, Bloomberg reports. Those numbers were in line with forecasts, but the jobless rate topped its forecast by rising to 7.2%, a 15-year high. “We’re seeing pretty ugly numbers,” said one economist. “The recession is worsening.” More»

Some 159,000 positions disappear

(AP) - Employers slashed payrolls by 159,000 in September, the most in more than 5 years and a worrisome sign that the economy is hurtling toward a deep recession. Today's snapshot also showed the nation's unemployment rate held steady at 6.1% as hundreds of thousands of people streamed out of the work force. It marked the 9th straight month that the economy has lost jobs. More»

Companies cut 190,000 jobs last month

(NEWSER) - Unemployment cracked the 10% barrier last month, as 190,000 workers lost their jobs, according to Labor Department figures released today. The bigger-than-expected losses bring the rate to 10.2%, a 26-year high. And the underemployment rate, which includes would-be full-timers working part time and those who've given up looking for work, hit a record high of 17.5%. “It is no surprise that consumer confidence is backpedaling, and the outlook for consumer spending is poor,” one economist tells Bloomberg. More»

(AP) - The unemployment rate jumped to 9.4% in May, the highest in more than 25 years. But the furious pace of layoffs eased, with employers cutting 345,000 jobs, the fewest since September. If laid off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.4%, the highest on record dating to 1994. More»

(NEWSER) - The unemployment rate now stands at a 25-year high of 8.5%, but the nation's CEOs say it's only going to get worse. Nearly three-quarters of the leaders of the nation's biggest companies expect to lay off more workers in the next 6 months, USA Today reports. That percentage—71%—is up 11 points from November and is the highest since the survey of the Business Roundtable began in 2002. More»