U.S. jobless rate at 16-month high

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Friday, Feb. 2, 2001 | 11:14 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The nation's unemployment rate climbed to 4.2 percent in January, the highest level in 16 months, as the dramatic slowdown in economic growth forced thousands of layoffs in autos and other manufacturing industries.

The nation's jobless rate rose 0.2 percentage point from a 4 percent rate in December, the biggest one-month jump since April 1999, the Labor Department reported today. The unemployment rate last stood at 4.2 percent in September 1999. Many analysts had expected a January rate of 4.1 percent.

Manufacturing was the hardest-hit sector, losing 65,000 jobs last month and bringing total factory losses to a quarter million since June.