Associated Press reporter Mark Hamrick spotlights the worsening unemployment rate in this video segment. Recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and catapulted the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent.
Hamrick observes that the government has confirmed many more people joined the unemployment lines last month with the pace of job loss accelerating and giving the economic situation an increasingly ominous tone. The job losses follow announcements coming from companies across the spectrum, ranging from manufacturing to high technology.
Jon Silvia, Chief Economist at Wachovia Corporation is interviewed and says “The avalanche of job losses won’t ease up anytime soon. We’ll lose a million more jobs over the next three months.” In a nod to optimism, Silvia added “Once we get into the 3rd and 4th quarters we’ll see more professional business service jobs, more investment technology jobs, as well as education and health opening up in the public sector.”
Hamrick concludes the segment when he states “In the meantime, the recession’s toll continues to mount.”
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