84,000 jobs cut in Aug.; jobless rate hits 5-year high of 6.1%

WASHINGTON -- Businesses shed 84,000 jobs in August as the unemployment rate soared to a five-year peak of 6.1%, the Labor Department said Friday in a report providing stark evidence that the economy is foundering.

Fully 2.2 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past 12 months, as the unemployment rate has climbed from 4.7%. So far in 2008, firms have laid off 605,000 workers, with job losses averaging 76,000 a month.

As in recent months, the manufacturing and construction industries took hits. But the huge services sector also felt the pain, with temporary employment firms reporting major declines and retail employment sliding. Health care continued to be a growth area, while government payrolls also rose in August.

"It doesn't have the air of being a full-fledged recession. But the really alarming part is the unemployment rate, which had already gone up more than expected in July and took another leg up in August ... that's definitely kind of shocking" says Bill Cheney, chief economist of John Hancock Financial.

In another troubling sign, the number of long-term unemployed — those out of work six months or more — jumped by 163,000 to 1.8 million, and has surged by 589,000 in the past 12 months. The number of people working more than one job increased in August, while about 1.6 million people were not working but not counted as unemployed because they hadn't looked for a job in the past four weeks.

Richard Moody, chief economist of Mission Residential, says the unemployment rate is really more like 10.7%, after taking into account people working part time for economic reasons and discouraged workers no longer actively looking for jobs.

"What is likely to be further erosion in labor market conditions over coming months means that U.S. consumers will be deprived of one of the key supports for consumer spending, thus locking the U.S. economy of, at best, below-trend growth and, at worst, recession," Moody says.

The economy and job market are deteriorating as the presidential election enters the home stretch. The unemployment numbers are likely to add new impetus to efforts already underway in Congress to provide additional economic stimulus.