US unemployment hits 7.6pc, 598,000 jobs lost
US unemployment surged in January to 7.6 percent, the highest since 1992, as 598,000 jobes were cut, the Labour Department reported Friday.
The number of job losses for the recession-hobbled economy was the worst since 1974, according to the monthly Labour Department report on nonfarm payrolls, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum.
The department also revised up its estimate of December job losses to 577,000 from 524,000.
Payroll employment has declined by 3.6 million since the start of the recession in December 2007, with around one-half of the decline in the past three months.
"The expectations were for a disastrous January for the labour market, and the preliminary numbers exceeded these expectations," said Sophia Koropeckyj at Economy.com.
Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics, called the data "another horrific report, showing job losses across the economy.”
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