MW: U.S. nonfarm payrolls plunge 598,000, the most since 1974
The fury of the recession intensified in January, as the unemployment rate jumped to 7.6% while nonfarm payrolls fell by the largest amount in 34 years, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls fell by a seasonally adjusted 598,000 in January after a revised loss of 577,000 in December. It's the largest payroll loss since December 1974. "Job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors," said Keith Hall, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturing saw its largest decline in 26 years. About 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession began just over a year ago; about half of them have been lost in the past three months following the collapse of Lehman Bros.
