Payrolls sink 651,000, jobless rate soars to 8.1%
2.5 million jobs lost in last four months
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
Last update: 10:48 a.m. EST March 6, 2009
Comments: 987
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The weakness in U.S. labor markets has gathered extraordinary momentum, wiping away millions of jobs over the past four months alone, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The U.S. economy lost 651,000 jobs in February, the fourth month in a row where job losses were near or above 600,000.
