U.S. employers slashed 651,000 jobs in February, pushing the nation's jobless rate to 8.1 per cent.
The figures, released by the U.S. Labour Department, were worse than analysts had expected.
The unemployment rate, which rose from 7.6 per cent in January, is at its highest level since 1983.
"The fact that the U.S. economy is continuing to shed workers at a furious pace basically signals that the U.S. is probably in the worst recession since the 1980s," senior TD Bank economist Craig Alexander told 麻豆影视net on Friday.
"This is terribly important from a Canadian perspective because 40 per cent of the Canadian economy is trade and 76 per cent of that trade is with the United States."
Craig said he pretty sure the jobless rate will reach 9 per cent.
"The question is whether we're going to get into the double-digits or not," he said.
The overall job losses come as employers already slashed 681,000 jobs in December and another 655,000 in January.
In total, roughly 12.5 million Americans are now unemployed.
"There's somebody shedding staff just about every day of the week," BNN's Linda Sims said Friday.
She said there's no indication that the downturn will end anytime soon.
Here's how many jobs were cut in the following industries in February:
- Construction companies -- 104,000
- Factories -- 168,000
- Retailers -- 40,000
- Professional and business services -- 180,000, with 78,000 jobs lost at temporary-help agencies
- Financial companies -- 44,000
- Leisure and hospitality firms -- 33,000
Since December 2007, the U.S. economy has lost 4.4 million jobs.
"The pace of layoffs is fast and furious," Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group, said. "We're still in the teeth of this recession and the bite has not let up at all."
Aside from job cuts, many employers have cut hours and slashed pay.
In February, the average U.S. work week stayed at 33.3 hours, matching the record low from December.
Additionally, the report showed the number of Americans forced to work for "economic reasons" jumped by 787,000 to 8.6 per cent.
Education, health services and government all managed to boost employment despite the recession.
U.S. President Barack Obama is hoping a US$787 billion stimulus package will help eventually lift the country out of recession.
Craig said eventually the economy will recover but it looks more likely to happen in 2010, instead of this year.
In Canada, the jobless numbers for February will be released next week.
In January, the Canadian economy lost 129,000 jobs -- the biggest monthly decline in more than three decades.
The losses pushed the country's unemployment rate up 0.6 percentage points from December to 7.2 per cent.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty warned last month that job losses should be expected throughout the year.
With files from The Associated Press
