Job Losses Continue To Rise in December

Washington, DC, Jan. 9, 2009--The economy lost 524,000 jobs in December, closing out the worst year for job losses since World War II, the Labor Department said Friday.

Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, with 1.9 million cut in just the past four months, according to a survey of work places. It's the biggest job loss in any calendar year since 1945, when 2.75 million jobs were lost as the wartime economy was demobilized.
 
The unemployment rate rose to 7.2%, the highest in 16 years. Unemployment increased by 632,000 to 11.1 million.

In 2008, the unemployment rate rose by 2.3 percentage points and unemployment increased by 3.6 million.

Economists  expected payrolls to fall by 500,000 and the unemployment rate to rise to 7.1%.

An alternative measure of unemployment that includes workers too discouraged to look for a job rose to 13.5% from 12.6% in November; it's the highest in the 13 years since those data have been kept.
 
Job losses were widespread. Only 25% of 274 industries were hiring in December.

Goods-producing industries cut 251,000 jobs in December, including 149,000 in manufacturing. The factory workweek plunged below 40 hours to a record low 39.9 hours, and average overtime fell to just 3 hours. Of 84 manufacturing industries, just 11% were hiring.