US unemployment hits 6.1%
Press TV
September 6, 2008

The US unemployment rate soared to 6.1 percent in August as workers lost 84,000 jobs, the highest level of job losses in the past five years.

The unemployment figure increases come in the midst of the last weeks of the presidential campaign. US workers have witnessed rises in job loss for eighth consecutive months with June and July seeing a total of 58,000 job losses, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Saturday.

The bureau said the figures indicate that the world's largest economy is encountering a recession and a clear signal for the Federal Reserve to take serious countermeasures.

A total of 605,000 personnel have lost their jobs since January and 2.2 million people have become unemployed over the past 12 months.

Officials at the Federal Reserve say there is a weak possibility that the rate of job loss will be reduced later this year but also forecast the economy will continue to slow for the rest of 2008.

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