Over One Million Jobs Lost in Last Four Months of 2008

We are all aware of the terrible economic crisis hitting America at the moment. 

For many, me included, the commentary on this recession doesn’t seem about everyday people ,   it’s all about derivatives, national debt, multi billion dollar bail out schemes and sub prime lending……(which by the way I still don’t properly understand)

But seeing this statistic today made it all seem very real:

In December the U.S economy lost 524,000 jobs, pushing the unemployment rate from 6.7 percent to 7.2 percent, the highest mark since Jan. of 1993. 

In all, the economy shed over 2.6 million jobs in 2008.   

The total number of unemployed Americans jumped by 632,000 in December, to 11.1 million

It also marks the first time in the 70-year history of the Labor Department’s report that over 500,000 jobs were shed in two consecutive months

On a proportional basis, the last few months have been the worst since 1945.

The hardest hit industry was the manufacturing sector, which lost 149,000 jobs in Dec.  Retailers, which experienced a dismal holiday shopping season, cut 66,600 jobs last month and construction employment fell by 101,000 jobs.  Unemployment in the construction sector jumped to 15.3 percent during the month.   

Signing off

Your economic statistician

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