Economic Crisis, Jobless | featured news

Fueling the demonstrators’ anger is the perceived failure by politicians to alleviate the hardships imposed on a struggling population by a jobless rate of 21 percent.

LaShonda Durden had just given birth to her second child. She was two weeks back from maternity leave when her supervisor called her into her office.

The social safety net was built for short-term gaps between jobs, but work may be scarce for years, even as the American economy shows signs of a rebound.

On the recession's front lines, governors are struggling to chart the road ahead for states staggered by unrelenting joblessness and cut-to-the-bone budgets even as Washington reports signs of economic growth.

"The worst probably is yet to come," warned Gov. Jim Douglas, R-Vt., chairman of the National Governors Association, at the group's meeting Saturday. He called the situation "fairly poor" in most states, adding that it "doesn't look too good."

Japan sees its unemployment reach a six-year high, at 5.4%, with job availability at a new low, in a further sign of the slowdown.

We are now looking at unemployment numbers that undermine any confidence that we might be nearing the bottom of the recession. The appropriate metaphor is not the green shoots of new growth. A better image is to look at the true total of jobless people as a prudent navigator looks at an iceberg. These 9 signs suggest that the U.S. recession is even worse than previously thought.

The nation's unemployment rate rose to 8.1% in February, the Labor Department reported this morning, adding another grim indicator to an economic picture already darkened this week. The jobless rate stood at its highest point since 1983.