Unemployment Passes 8 percent mark

Rate highest in 25 years

Unemployed Americans find ways to cope.

Unemployment in the U.S. has now hit 8.1 percent, the highest it has been in 25 years. The economy has lost about 3.3 million jobs in the past six months.

Bad months

December job loss was the highest it has been for a one-month period in 59 years, with 681,000 jobs lost. Jobs lost per month have gone down since then.

In January, 655,000 jobs were lost. In February, 651,000 were lost. Economists had previously predicted unemployment would hit 7.9 percent in February.

Bleak picture

The last time the unemployment rate was higher than 8.1 percent was in 1983.

“The economy is headed south with a vengeance,” said Kurt Karl, head of economic research for the U.S. unit of insurer Swiss Re.

A household survey found that 12.5 million in the United States are now unemployed. That’s the highest number on record. The Labor Department started keeping track in 1940.

More tough times ahead

Since the beginning of 2008, the U.S. economy has hemorrhaged 4.4 million jobs.

“It’s a dismal report. We thought we’d have another month like this, and I think we have a couple of more coming,” said Tig Gilliam, chief executive of Adecco Group North America, a unit of the world’s largest employment firm. “We’ve got a lot of layoffs being announced that haven’t been implemented.”

Unemployment can be particularly tough for people who run into financial emergencies, because the unemployed often cannot qualify for payday loans and other financial help. Gilliam thinks the unemployment rate will reach 9 percent over the next few months.

What about that stimulus package?

The Obama administration issued a statement recognizing the dismal unemployment rate. It says that’s part of the reason it moved so quickly to get the economic stimulus package passed. But no one expected it to be an instant fix.

“There’s no doubt that we have a long way to go to get this economy moving again, and the jobs numbers are one more reminder of that,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Sit tight

Economists believe the stimulus package won’t do much to change job losses in the near term.

“The stimulus won’t have immediate effect on job creation even though some planned layoffs could be canceled,” said Sung Won Sohn, economics professor at Cal State University Channel Islands. He said most of the job growth that the $787 billion in government spending will create won’t be seen until 2010.