Economy losses 651,000 net jobs in February 2009; unemployment increases to 8.1% and black unemployment increases to 13.4%
The economic numbers continue to tell a depressing story in February; the number of unemployed increased to 12.5 million and the unemployment rate reached 8.1% (the highest since 1983). 651,000 jobs were lost in February and 4.4 million since the recession began in December of 2007--almost 60% of that total occurred in the last four months (which averaged almost 650,000 jobs lost per month). Unemployment increased for all groups, but blacks and Latinos (as well as men) were the most impacted. Black unemployment rose 0.8% to 13.4% and Latinos increased 1.2% to 10.9%. Adult black males (age 20 and over) saw their unemployment reach 14.9%. The number of people working part-time for economic reasons increased 787,000 to 8.6 million, up 3.7 million over the last year. Total underemployment, which includes marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons, reached 14.8%.
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| 2009_FebruaryEmploymentReport.pdf | 73.5 KB |
