Employers Cut 85,000 Jobs in Dec.; Unemployment Rate Steady at 10%

The economy lost more jobs than expected in December while the unemployment rate held steady at 10 percent, as a sluggish economic recovery has yet to revive hiring among the nation's employers.

The Labor Department said Friday that employers cut 85,000 jobs last month, worse than the 8,000 drop analysts expected.
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Most economists worry that 2010 won't be much better. Federal Reserve officials, in a meeting last month, anticipated that unemployment will decline "only gradually," according to minutes of the meeting released earlier this week. The Fed and most private economists expect the unemployment rate will remain above 9 percent through the end of this year.
--- from AOL

US companies shed 85,000 jobs in December

US employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, dashing hopes of a sustained revival in the jobs market.

Many economists had expected the data to show that the US economy had stopped losing jobs in December for the first time in almost two years.
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“The economy will probably shed gradually fewer jobs over the first couple of months of this year, before we begin to see monthly net job gains after the first quarter, if not before,” he said.
---from TimesOnline