WASHINGTON (AP) - The latest jobs report from the government shows the damage to the economy is widening.
The Labor Department says the August unemployment rate soared to a five-year high of 6.1 percent. Employers cut some 84,000 jobs, marking the eighth straight month of contraction in payrolls.
Also, with revisions, job losses in June and July were worse than previously thought. The economy lost 100,000 jobs in June and another 60,000 in July.
Factories cut some 61,000 jobs, retailers shed some 20,000 posts, while professional and business services lost 53,000 positions.
In a written statement, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao says the jobs report "confirms the seriousness of the challenges facing our economy."
Canada's unemployment rate steady at 6.1%
TORONTO (AP) - Job gains in Canada and job losses in the U.S. In the last month have leveled the unemployment rates of both countries, bringing them to par for the first time in more than 26 years.
Statistics Canada said Friday that Canada's unemployment rate remained steady at 6.1 percent as 15,200 jobs were created in August. America's jobless rate hit a five-year high of 6.1 percent after employers slashed 84,000 jobs.
Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said Canada's job gains help to relieve some of the sting from July's big drop of 55,200 jobs.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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