Back

Next

US job market at its worst in 15 years

October 27, 2008

The prospects of these job seekers grow dimmer as layoffs spread beyond financial, home-building and auto industries.

Also in September, the Journal reported, companies saw 2,269 mass layoffs -- in which at least 50 people are let go at once -- more than at any time since September 2001.

While the unemployment rate is at a five-year high at 6.1 per cent, a broader measure of weakness that includes people who have stopped looking for work or whose hours have been cut to part-time is 11 per cent -- the highest in 15 years.

Painful recession in US...

Image: Yahoo said it will cut at least 1,400 jobs. | Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Also read: Of falling property prices and when to buy a house

Back

Next