Job Loss Is Bigger Than Expected

Just when we were beginning to think maybe we can party like it’s 1999, along comes the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics like an AA sponsor to tell us we lost more jobs in the U.S. economy than even the most pessimistic had predicted.

The monthly employment report says 85,000 jobs were lost in December. The blue collar industries took the brunt of the hit, losing 80,000 jobs in construction and manufacturing alone. Other losers were hospitality, wholesale trade, and government. Increases in temp help and, of course, health care, offset some of the losses.