U.S. Jobless Rate Climbs Amid Slowdown
Various companies had been announcing layoffs, but until Friday’s report it was not clear how much the slump was affecting the entire national job force. Some of the job cuts have come from major customers of the trucking industry.
The jobless rate rose to 4.2% in January from 4.0% in December, for the largest single-month increase since April 1999 and the highest unemployment percentage since September of that year, the Associated Press noted. Last autumn, the rate had been down to a 30-year low of 3.9%.
The Federal Reserve this week cut short-term interest rates another half-point, for a full-point cut since the year began, to try to spur growth. However, the nation’s factory purchasing agents said Thursday that the factory-sector recession continued to deepen last month, and that they now think the overall economy is contracting as well.
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