Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Obama: U.S. hit hard by global recession

|
|
 
  
Secretary of Labor designate Hilda Solis and her husband Sam Sayyad arrive at the Latino Inaugural Gala at Union Station in Washington on January 18, 2009. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn into office on January 20. (UPI Photo/Alexis C. Glenn) 
License photo
Published: April 3, 2009 at 3:47 PM

WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- The global economic crisis is hitting the United States dramatically, U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday during a news conference in Germany.

The U.S. unemployment rate hit 8.5 percent in March, a 0.4 percentage-point rise on the loss of 663,000 jobs in a month, statistics released by the Labor Department indicated. Since the recession set in in December 2007, the nation has lost 5.1 million jobs, the report said.

"Over the last several days, what we've been grappling with is an economic crisis that is unlike anything we've seen since the '30s," Obama said during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Baden-Baden, Germany. "(Obviously), this is hitting the United States hard ..."

As of March, 13.2 million Americans were listed as unemployed, a 5.3 million increase over the past 12 months.

"The Labor Department continues to actively support workers during this difficult time," Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said. "We have provided billions of dollars to increase the level of unemployment benefits and extend their duration."

Solis said the department also provided states with $7 billion in incentives to expand the reach of unemployment insurance and distributed $4 billion to increase the opportunities for worker training."

Topics: Baden Baden, Barack Obama
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 27
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego wins Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
The smartphone is killing the art of conversation. Then again, people said that about regular cell...
Top 5 answers are on the board: "Name some woman Richard Dawson will kiss inappropriately in heaven."...
You know those modular classrooms where you had to go for your art and French classes in high school?...
Ugly ass baby giraffe born in Southern Illinois zoo. Adorable pictures "я" us
If your neighbors ask if you and your wife are into swapping and suggest having a swapping party...
It's a lie