The US economy lost 524,000 jobs in December, a bit less than the 550,000
economists expected, although the unemployment rate jumped to a higher-than-
expected 7.2%.
The higher unemployment rate reflects huge revisions to October and November
payrolls. Labor revised November payrolls down to a loss of 584,000 jobs (was -
533K), and revised October payrolls down to a 423,000 loss (was -320K). The
154,000 new lost jobs in these months means a net total of just more than 1 mln
jobs lost in October and November alone.
November's job losses were the highest in any month since December 1974.
The economy has now lost 2.589 mln jobs since January, the largest number of
job losses in a calendar year since 1945. Of course, there are more workers
today than there were in 1945.