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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. unemployment rate jumped up to 5.8 percent in December, the highest since August, 1995 when it was 5.7 percent. An additional 124,000 nonfarm workers lost their jobs in December. The good news is that losses were fewer than in the previous two months, and were offset by hiring in the industries listed on the next page.

Over the course of 2001,

• The unemployment rate rose by 1.8 percent
• Unemployed workers increased by 2.6 million
• The unemployed-worker total reached 8.3 million

About 42 percent (1.1 million) of the total job losses occurred in the last four months of the year, strongly indicating that the September 11 tragedy took its toll on the job market, too.

The following industries suffered moderate to significant job losses in December.

• Manufacturing
• Transportation, especially airlines, equipment and travel services
• Electrical equipment
• Help supply (temp employee) services
• Wholesale trade
• Public utilities
• Retail
• Real estate
• Communications, including telecom
• Security and commodity brokerages
• Mining, especially oil and gas extraction

Construction employment changed little in December. That's unusual, as typically it shows employment declines during a recession. But job growth in this industry has stagnated since early 2001.