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March 9, 2009

US Unemployment Rate Jumps to 8.1 Percent
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In other economic news, the nation’s unemployment rate has jumped to 8.1
percent, the highest since 1983. Employers cut 651,000 jobs in February.
4.4 million jobs have been lost over the past fourteen months. In a
speech in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, President Obama called the number
of lost jobs “astounding.”

President Obama: “I don’t need to tell the people of this state what
statistics like this mean, because so many of you have been watching
jobs disappear long before this recession hit. And I don’t need to tell
this graduating class what it’s like to know that your job might be
next, because up until a few weeks ago, that is precisely the future
that this class faced—a future that millions of Americans still face
right now. Well, that is not a future I accept for the United States of
America.”



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