Washington: The US unemployment rate climbed to 6.7 per cent in November amid a loss of 5,33,000 jobs, the worst monthly drop since 1974 and dramatically worse than economists expected, the US government said on Friday.
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The Labour Department said a revised 4,03,000 jobs were lost in October and 3,20,000 in September. So far, 1.91 million jobs were lost in 2008.
The Labour Department said job losses were "large and widespread" across all sectors of the world's largest economy. Healthcare was one of the only bright spots.
Economists had predicted a decline of only 3,35,000 in November, according to a Bloomberg News survey. The unemployment rate stood at 6.5 per cent in October.
Earlier this week, the National Bureau of Economic Research officially declared the US has been in recession since December 2007, citing the declining jobs numbers as a key reason for its finding.
The President-elect Barack Obama has promised to introduce a massive fiscal stimulus package after he takes office on January 20 to help create 2.5 million jobs in the US economy.
