For me it is over after 128 days I start a new job on Monday. Excited by very nervous. The husband has had no luck, so he is finally applying for unemployment. It is so easy to get behind when you are unemployed, so now we are going to start catching up on some bills. We know we were luckier then most, and family has helped us out to stay.

I am most looking forward to having our own place again, and feeling part of a community. I hope people realize how tough times are and to be nicer, and help everyone needs alittle help every so often. We appreciate all both our families did for us during this time,so basically pay it forward.

Associated Press BELOW:

Employer Slashes 598K Jobs in January, Unemployment Rate Jumps to 7.6%
The Labor Department's report is grim proof the nation's job climate is deteriorating at an alarming clip with no end in sight.

AP

Friday, February 06, 2009

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the drawn-out recession is having on workers and companies. It also puts even more pressure on President Obama to revive the economy.

The latest net total of job losses was far worse than the 524,000 that economists expected. Job reductions in November and December also were deeper than previously reported.

With cost-cutting employers in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate bolted to 7.6 percent in January, the highest since September 1992. The increase in the jobless rate from 7.2 percent in December also was worse than the 7.5 percent rate economists expected.

All told, the economy has lost a staggering 3.6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. About half of this decline occurred in the past three months.

Factories slashed 207,000 jobs in January, the largest one-month drop since October 1982, partly reflecting heavy losses at plants making autos and related parts. Construction companies got rid of 111,000 jobs. Professional and business services chopped 121,000 positions. Retailers eliminated 45,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality axed 28,000 slots.

Those reductions swamped employment gains in education and health services, as well as in the government.

Just in the 12 months ending January, an astonishing 3.5 million jobs have vanished, the most on record going back to 1939, although the total number of jobs has grown significantly since then.

Employers are slashing payrolls and turning to other ways to cut costs -- including trimming workers' hours, freezing wages or cutting pay -- to cope with shrinking appetites from customers in the U.S. and overseas, who are struggling with their own economic troubles.

The average work week in January stayed at 33.3 hours, matching the record low set in December.

With no place to go, the number of unemployed workers climbed to 11.6 million.

Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed has increased by 4.1 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.7 percentage points.

Job hunters also are facing longer searches for work.

The average time it took for an unemployed person to find any job -- full or part time -- rose to 19.8 weeks in January, compared with 17.5 weeks a year ago, underscoring the increasing difficulty the out-of-work are having in finding a new job.

Workers with jobs saw modest wage gains.

Average hourly earnings rose to $18.46 in January, up 0.3 percent from the previous month. Over the year, wages have risen 3.9 percent.

An avalanche of layoffs is slamming the country from a wide swath of employers.

Caterpillar Inc., Pfizer Inc., Microsoft Corp., Estee Lauder Cos., Time Warner Cable Inc., and Sprint Nextel Corp. are among the companies slicing payrolls. Manufacturers -- especially car makers -- construction companies and retailers have been particularly hard hit by the recession.

Americans cut back sharply on spending at the end of last year, thrusting the economy into its worst backslide in a quarter-century. The tailspin could well accelerate in the current January-March quarter to a rate of 5 percent or more as the recession drags on into a second year, and consumers and businesses burrow deeper.

Many economists predict the current quarter -- in terms of lost economic growth -- will be the worst of the recession.

With fallout from the housing, credit and financial crises -- the worst since the 1930s -- ripping through the economy, analysts predict up to 3 million jobs will vanish this year -- even if Congress quickly approves the stimulus measure, which has ballooned to more than $900 billion in the Senate.

Obama has been making repeated pleas to Congress to swiftly enact a package of increased government spending, including big public works projects and tax cuts, to revive the economy and create jobs. Obama says his plan will save or create more than 3 million jobs in the next two years.

The economy's problems have proven stubborn. Despite record low interest rates ordered by the Federal Reserve and a raft of radical programs, including a $700 billion financial bailout, consumers and businesses face high hurdles to borrow money. Foreclosures are skyrocketing, home prices are sinking and Wall Street remains on edge.