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More companies announced layoffs on Wednesday as the employment picture continued to dim.
National Semiconductor became the latest victim of the crisis, announcing it will cut 26 percent of its global workforce.
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CNBC.com |
The nation's unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs.
Both figures were worse than analysts expected and the Labor Department's report shows America's workers being clobbered by a relentless wave of layoffs.
The net loss of 651,000 jobs in February came after even deeper payroll reductions in the prior two months, according to revised figures. The economy lost 681,000 jobs in December and another 655,000 in January.
In the meantime, four states—California, South Carolina, Michigan and Rhode Island—registered double-digit unemployment rates in January.
The U.S. Labor Department says California's unemployment rate jumped to 10.1 percent in January, from 8.7 percent in December.
Michigan's jobless rate of 11.6 percent was the highest in the country. That was followed by South Carolina at 10.4 percent and Rhode Island at 10.3 percent.
California rounded out the top four.
"There's no way that we could or should put a positive spin on these," Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers told CNBC.
"The American people are clearly suffering," she said.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost an astounding 4.4 million jobs, more than half of which occurred in the past four months.
Here is a rundown of corporate job cuts announced so far:
- National Semiconductor [NSM
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] said it will cut 26 percent of its global workforce, or 1,725 jobs, as the chipmaker reported sharply lower quarterly profits and revenue. - United Technologies [UTX
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], whose products range from elevators to jet engines, plans to cut 11,600 jobs as it adapts to an economy that has grown worse than it expected just three months ago.
- McClatchy [MNI
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] will slash 1,600 jobs, or about 15 percent of its workforce, in one of the more dramatic cuts by a U.S. newspaper publisher as it struggles with plunging advertising sales.
—Sources: AP, Reuters, with CNBC.com staff.
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