Jobs: Another 651,000 Lost in February

William Knapp, MainStay Investments

February payroll and unemployment data came in pretty much as anticipated. The Labor Dept. reported Friday in its Payroll Survey that the U.S. economy shed 651,000 jobs for the month. In the separate Household Survey, the unemployment rate rose half a percent, to 8.1%.

Revisions to January and December cropped an additional 161,000 jobs. Cumulative jobs lost since the current recession began in December 2007 stand at about 4.4 million, with much of that loss (2.6 million jobs) occurring in the past four months.

At 8.1%, the unemployment rate now exceeds the peak from the 1991 recession, 7.8% in June of 1992, and is at a 25-year high. During the recession of the early 1980s, the unemployment rate was greater than 8% for 26 months, from November 1981 through January 1984. From September 1982 through June of 1983 (10 months), the rate was greater than 10%, peaking at 10.8% in November and December of 1982.

Unemployment claims remain high, but did unexpectedly decline last week. For the week ending February 28, the seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment was 639,000, a decrease of 31,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 670,000, the Labor Dept. reported Thursday. The four-week moving average was 641,750, up 2,000 from last week.