Unemployment rate jumped in December

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 7.2 percent in December with a loss of 524,000 more jobs in the month, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday.

That pumped the jobs lost in the final quarter of 2008 to 1.9 million, the department said.

The department said that snce the recession began in December 2007, there have been 3.6 million jobs lost, bringing the number of unemployed to 11.1 million.

The monthly report said job losses were "widespread across most major industry sectors."

In addition, workers categorized as working part time for economic reasons -- sometimes called "involuntary part-time workers" -- reached 8 million in December, a jump of 3.4 million over the past year.

In December, the manufacturing sector shed 149,000 jobs, the largest monthly decline in that sector since August 2001. Construction lost 101,000 jobs, and is now down nearly 900,000 jobs since the fall of 2006.

In the month, 67,000 retail jobs were lost, adding to a total of 522,000 retail job losses for the year, most of them erased in the second and third quarter, the department said.

In December alone, automobile dealerships shed 22,000 jobs. Furniture and home furnishing jobs shrank by 8,000, while electronics and appliance stores cut 5,000 jobs in the month.

Wholesale jobs also shrank, down 30,000 through the month and 164,000 through the year.