MarketWatch: Jobless queue gets longer

[marmar]

Another half million jobs lost, survey says
Fifth straight month of heavy layoffs should push jobless rate to 7.5%

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch


WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The axe fell on an expected half million jobs last month, economists say, and the only reason the job losses weren't larger is that weak hiring for temporary jobs in November and December meant fewer people were laid off in January.

The Labor Department will report on the January employment report on Friday, the cap of another busy week for economic data, most of which are expected to be gloomy, if not doomy.

The data calendar includes January purchasing-managers surveys from the Institute for Supply Management; January auto sales; December data on consumer spending, consumer credit, factory orders and construction spending; and the latest weekly figures on jobless claims. The Federal Reserve is also likely to report on its quarterly survey of lending conditions at banks.

The news is expected to be universally grim. The jobs report is the big one, however.

"Rapid reductions in head count likely continued in January" because of the "cratering of economic activity," said economists for Credit Suisse in a weekly report to clients. "Layoffs are still on the rise."

The economy lost 1.5 million jobs in just the final three months of the year, bringing the losses for the entire year to 2.6 million, the worst since 1945.

"The door has closed on 2008's abysmal employment record, but 2009 is starting off the year looking just as bad, if not worse," wrote Meny Grauman, an economist for CIBC World Markets. .......(more)

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