Jobs Down in December

AP via MSNBC: Job losses rise in Dec., unemployment 7.2 pct.; December figures cap a year featuring job losses every month

Trying to survive a deepening recession, employers are cutting their work forces to the bone, leaving more Americans unemployed and with dim prospects of finding a new job any time soon.

The Labor Department reported Friday that the jobless rate rose to 7.2 percent in December and payrolls dropped by 524,000 jobs, capping a year when job losses were logged every month and presaging more job losses to come.

That marks the highest jobless rate since January 1983.