The United States unemployment rate hit 7.2 percent in December, up 0.4 percent from November, and 524,000 jobs disappeared over the month.
The Department of Labor reported that payroll employment fell by a total of 1.9 million over the last four months of 2008.
Employment was down across most major industries. Goods-producing jobs fell by 251,000, while service sector employment dropped by 273,000. The only sectors to see increases were education and health services, which added 45,000 jobs and government, which added 7,000.
