The US economy last month lost 308,000 jobs, the most since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Unemployment approached an eight-year high as the economy stumbled amid preparations for a war with Iraq.
The jobless rate rose to 5.8 percent last month from 5.7 percent in January, the Labor Department said. Joblessness reached 6 percent in December, the highest since 1994.
The unexpected drop in payrolls followed an increase of 185,000 jobs in January. This month's job loss was the largest since 327,000 positions were eliminated in November 2001.
Companies say sluggish demand and the threat of war are prompting them to delay investing and hiring. Manufacturing growth slowed last month, and consumer confidence slumped to a nine-year low, damped by the tight job market and slowing income growth.
Economists say that may pressure household spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy.
The payroll drop "has serious potential consequences for the US economy," said Joseph Abate, a senior economist at Lehman Brothers Inc in New York, before the report.
"It points to slow consumer spending and will mute the strength of the economic recovery," he said.
Economists had expected payrolls to rise by 10,000 last month following a previously reported increase of 143,000 in January, based on the median of 65 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. No economist expected payrolls to decline by more than 75,000. The unemployment rate was expected to rise to 5.8 percent.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu