Employers cut 598,000 jobs in January according to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Labor. The number of workers filing first-time claims for jobless benefits rose to a new 26-year high of 626,000 claims. The unemployment rate hit 7.6 percent, its highest level since 1992.
Job losses in January were widespread across almost all major industries. Manufacturing payroll saw its largest drop since 1982, losing 207,000 jobs. Construction lost an additional 111,000 jobs, and retail trade employment fell by 45,000 jobs. Meanwhile, worker productivity, the measure of worker output per hour, rose at an annual rate of 3.2 percent, following a 1.5 percent increase.
Multi-billion dollar corporations are forcing workers to shoulder the burden of the economic crisis by working harder and longer hours for less pay and no job security. Roughly half of the 3.6 million jobs lost since December 2007 were cut in the past three months. In 2008 alone, the U.S. lost more jobs than any year since 1945.
