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Nation's unemployment rate highest since '80s
Good news regarding the nation's economy continues to be hard to come by as new data from the federal government showed that employers are still shedding workers at an alarming rate.According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, companies laid off 651,000 more people in February, raising the nation's unemployment rate from 7.6 percent in January to 8.1 percent last month, the highest level since 1983.
The latest information from the Virginia Employment Commission puts Northern Virginia's unemployment rate at 3.9 percent as of December, up from 2.4 percent a year earlier.
Since the recession began in December 2007, 4.4 million Americans have lost their jobs.
In February, few industries were spared the onslaught of layoffs.
The trucking industry shed 33,000 jobs. Retail lost 40,000. Financial services lost 44,000. Construction lost 103,000 jobs. Taking the biggest hit was manufacturing, which lost 168,000 jobs.
The one bright spot in the government data continues to be health care, which added 27,000 workers in February.
Regarding the makeup of the nation's workforce, unemployment among adult men stood at 8.1 percent in February and 6.7 percent among adult women. The rate among teen workers was 22 percent.
To aid the growing ranks of the unemployed, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced last week that the federal government released $3.5 billion to state governments to be used toward employment and training programs.
“We will continue to do whatever is necessary to break the destructive cycle of job loss in this country and put Americans back to work,” she said in a statement.
See www.vec.virginia.gov to learn how to file for unemployment assistance in Virginia.
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com
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