Jobless rate reaches a new high
According to a report released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country's jobless rate has jumped to 7.2 percent, which means that roughly 11 Americans are currently unemployed.
Unemploymemnt for nonfarm payroll jobs spiked sharply in December, from 6.8 percent to 7.2 percent. in that time, 524,000 payroll jobs were lost and, over the last four months of 2008, 1.9 million jobs were lost. The report states that, since the beginning of the recession (which is considered the beginning of 2008) 3.6 million jobs have been lost.
Losses were felt in almost every sector of the work force, except health care and education, which saw growth. Manufacturing jobs experienced a loss of 149,000, which was the biggest one-month drop since 2001. In additon, retail lost 67,000 jobs.
According to a report published today by The New York Times, Pres.-elect Barack Obama has pledged to create programs to promote job growth, but some experts have expressed doubt that the economy will not continue to contract well into this year.
A report from the Associated Press states that this is the highest change in unemployment rates since World War II, and is at its highest in 16 years.
According to preliminary data from BLS, the jobless rate in Columbia rose from 4.1 in October to 4.3 in November. Figures for December have not yet been released.