U.S. Joblessness Rises--Highest Since 1987

America’s unemployment rate climbed to 6.2% in January, its highest level since 1987, as a slumping economy forced 115,000 Americans onto the jobless rolls, the government said today.

California’s jobless rate rose to 7% after posting a 6.8% rate in December.

Last month’s rise in the jobless rate nationwide, up from December’s rate of 6.1%, means that unemployment since June has risen at its fastest pace since the last recession.

Over the last seven months, 1.2 million Americans have joined the ranks of the unemployed and the nation has suffered its worst stretch of layoffs and job losses since 1982, with payrolls falling by more than 1 million jobs, today’s report showed.

In January alone, the economy lost 232,000 jobs, a much bigger job decline than had been expected. Manufacturing and construction were particularly hard hit, the report said.

The number of people added to unemployment rolls differs from the job losses number because the government calculates the numbers from different surveys of households and business establishments; in addition, people holding two jobs may have lost half their income but not yet joined the ranks of unemployed.

“There is no end in sight to a severe and sharp downturn. . . . This report dashes hopes that this would be a short, mild recession,” said Allen Sinai, chief economist at the Boston Co.

Even a mild recession was expected to put another 1 million Americans out of work by the end of the year if the unemployment rate peaks at around 7% later this year, analysts said.

January’s rate was the highest since a 6.2% reading in June, 1987.

Although the net number of people added to the ranks of the unemployed was 115,000, the Labor Department’s household survey showed that the number of jobless Americans who lost their last jobs rose by 270,000 in January to 4.1 million. The number of job losers has increased by about 850,000 since June and now accounts for more than half of the total unemployed, the agency said.

January’s huge 232,000 job loss followed a December payroll loss of 150,000--a revised number about twice as bad as that first reported a month ago by the government.