Unemployment Rate Surges to 8.1%, Underemployment Leaps to almost 15% in February 2009

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the unemployment rate in the US jumped to 8.1% in February---This is slightly worse than expectations, and the report also contained revisions to January and December 2008 that made the unemployment rates in those months higher as well. The 8.1% unemployment rate also marks the highest level seen in over 25 years.

In the last year, 5 million more Americans have become unemployed, an increase of 3.3 percentage points.

The U-6 unemployment figure (Which includes people who are working part-time but really want to work full time---sometimes called the underemployment figure) surged to 14.8% in February, up from 13.9% in January.