U.S. Economy: Payrolls Post Biggest Annual Decline Since 1945

By Shobhana Chandra

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. lost more jobs in 2008 than in any year
since 1945 as employers fired another 524,000 people in December,
indicating a free-fall in the economy just days before President-elect
Barack Obama takes office.

“Consumers are now going to get more and more scared at the prospect of
losing their job,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global
Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. Obama’s proposed fiscal stimulus
“needs to be big, needs to be bold, needs to be swift. If they can do
something quickly we can limit the hemorrhage by mid-year.”

The Labor Department reported that the nation lost 2.589 million jobs in
2008, just shy of the 2.75 million decline at the end of World War II.
The unemployment rate climbed more than economists forecast, to 7.2
percent in December, the highest level in almost 16 years.

Today’s figures will intensify pressure on U.S. lawmakers to act quickly
on Obama’s recovery program, which may exceed $775 billion and aims to
save or create 3 million jobs. They also underscore the urgency of the
Federal Reserve’s $200 billion initiative to restart consumer financing
markets that’s scheduled to begin next month.

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Thank you for your leadership on these economic issues, President Bush.