Yep, This Is Definitely a Recession...
Today's Employment Report:
Employment Situation Summary: The unemployment rate rose from 5.7 to 6.1 percent in August, and non-farm payroll employment continued to trend down (-84,000).... The number of unemployed persons rose by 592,000 to 9.4 million in August, and the unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percentage point to 6.1 percent. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 2.2 million and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.4 percentage points, with most of the increase occurring over the past 4 months.... Over the last 4 months, the number of unemployed job losers has increased by 810,000.... [T]he number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) rose by 163,000 to 1.8 million, an increase of 589,000 over the past 12 months....
Total nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend down (-84,000) in August. Thus far in 2008, payroll employment has declined by 605,000, an average loss of 76,000 per month. Employment continued to decline in manufacturing and employment services, while health care and mining added jobs...