Unemployment rocketed to its highest rate since late 1983, 8.1 %, as the nation’s economy shed 651,000 jobs in February.

The government has revised its December and January job-loss figures higher, to 681,000 and 655,000, respectively.

Since the recession began in December 2007, 4.4 million jobs have been cut. In any given month, the economy must create 125,000 to 150,000 jobs just to absorb new entrants, including recent graduates, into the labor force.

The country is suffering from the worst housing, credit, and financial crises since the 1930s. And there is no easy fix for a quick turnaround, economists said.

Even in the best-case scenario – the stimulus efforts work and the recession ends later this year – the unemployment rate is expected to keep climbing, hitting 9 % or higher before year’s end. In fact, the Federal Reserve says the unemployment rate is likely to stay elevated into 2011. Economists say the job market might not get back to a normal (5 %) unemployment rate until 2013.

Unemployment for African Americans such as Thompson has risen to 13.4 %, highest among all ethnic groups.

And in the last month, 787,000 more people have become part-time workers because business conditions have slackened or they could find only part-time jobs.

When part-timers are figured in, the unemployment rate is 14.8 %. That includes laid-off workers who want jobs but are too discouraged to look.

February’s cuts came across all industry sectors except health and education, which added 26,000 jobs nationwide, and government hiring, up by a mere 9,000.

The biggest February decline came in professional and business services, which lost 180,000 jobs.

Particularly hard hit was manufacturing, which dropped 168,000 jobs. Construction continued its fall, losing 104,000 jobs.

Nationally, unemployment in construction stands at 22.5 % – the highest percentage among all occupations. Manufacturing comes in second, at 21.4 percent.

“This is the worst that we’ve seen since the 1980s, or maybe even before that,” said Walter Palmer 3d, President of  General Building Contractors Association. “We’ve got 30 to 35 percent of unemployment in the trades, and every day that inches higher,” he said. “Private projects are being canceled.”

“Had the building of casinos in the city not been delayed, a frustrated Palmer said, “we’d be at the height of employment on these projects.”

Even the stimulus package does not make him optimistic. From what he sees, a small slice of the $1 billion in infrastructure money Pennsylvania will receive will end up being used to paint some local bridges and repave portions of Interstate 95.

“Those projects don’t employ a lot of people,” he said. “I-95 really needs to be reconstructed – not repaved – and the $1 billion doesn’t even begin to address that.”

Meanwhile, those who have been laid off are taking longer to find jobs, the Labor Department also reported. The average duration of unemployment is now 19.8 weeks, up from 16.6 weeks a year ago, and 23.1 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for more than 27 weeks.

Weekly earnings are up $1, but the number of weekly hours worked remained flat at 33.3 hours, down from 33.6 hours in the third quarter of 2008. In manufacturing, hours dropped to 39.6 in February from 40.8 hours in the third quarter of 2008. Overtime hours continued to decline.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer