"Unemployment Rate Jumps To 7.2 Percent"

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

And there's more bad economic news this morning. The Labor Department announced that the national unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent in December, 524,000 jobs were lost, the highest monthly level in 16 years. Today's numbers complete a bleak picture for the year just past. The economy lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, the most in more than half a century.

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MONTAGNE: You're listening to Morning Edition from NPR News.