State unemployment rates increased across the country in December, leaving not a single state unscathed, according to a United States Department of Labor report released Tuesday.

Joblessness was worst in the West and Midwest, indicating that the industries hit first by the recession — housing and manufacturing — continue to lose jobs. But Northeastern states, which have a heavy concentration of finance jobs, also saw a steep rise in unemployment, as did Southern economies, which for most of last year had been buffered by high gas and oil prices. Last month, Michigan and Rhode Island reported the highest jobless rates, 10.6 and 10.0 percent, respectively.

The situation is getting so grim that Tennessee is offering mass claims sessions to handle the volume of people filing for unemployment for the first time, Michigan is upgrading its phone and Internet infrastructure to handle unemployment inquiries and California's unemployment fund has reportedly run out of money.

Yesterday's DOL report underscores how the recession has spared few industries or regions. In the final four months of 2008, the nation lost about two million jobs, cutting across sectors from manufacturing to retailing and professional and business services.

At the start of the workweek, a number of major companies announced job cuts: General Motors Corp. said it will cut 2,000 jobs at plants in Michigan and Ohio; heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. plans to chop 20,000 workers from its payroll; Texas Instruments, the world's third-largest chipmaker, said it will cut its workforce by 12 percent, or 3,400 employees; and European steel giant Corus said Monday that it will cut 3,500 jobs around the world, "with 2,500 jobs going in Britain alone." The Boeing Company this morning said it plans to cut about 10,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce, this year.

Retailer Home Depot Inc., cell phone service provider Sprint Nextel Corp. and at least half a dozen other companies announced on Monday they would cut more than 75,000 jobs in the U.S. and around the world.

Monday's barrage of negative employment news comes after recent layoff announcements from other prominent companies like Harley-Davidson, General Electric, Citigroup, Deer & Co. and Nokia. As part of its acquisition of Wyeth, Pfizer said it would cut the combined workforce by 19,500 employees.

In many cases, the cutbacks accompanied bleak 2009 outlooks for the national and global economies hit by severe downturns.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) announced today that, under its most optimistic scenario, 2009 could end with 18 million more unemployed people than at the end of 2007, with a global unemployment rate of 6.1, if the economic slowdown that has turned into a global employment crisis continues.

Under its worst-case economic scenario, the United Nations agency said 51 million more jobs could be lost by the end of this year, creating a 7.1 percent global unemployment rate.

More realistically, the ILO's new Global Employment Trends report said 30 million more people could lose their jobs if financial turmoil persists through 2009, pushing up the world's unemployment to 6.5 percent, compared to 6.0 percent in 2008 and 5.7 percent in 2007.

"The ILO message is realistic, not alarmist," Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General, said in a statement today. "We are now facing a global jobs crisis. The political and security implications are daunting."

Raymond Torres, head of the ILO's research institute, told the Financial Times this week that employers were shedding workers far more quickly in this recession than in the early 1990s.

"We have a vicious circle of depression, where job losses lead to falling consumption, which lowers industrial confidence, which leads to less investment, which results in more job losses, and so on," Torres told the publication.

For those who have recently been removed from their jobs, see our recent The Year Ahead for the (Newly) Unemployed for the criteria needed to qualify for unemployment compensation.

For those managing workers after layoffs, see our recent 5 Strategies for Managing Employees after Layoffs and 5 Ideas for Leading through the Downturn for tips on working with remaining employees.

Related: Industry Outlook: 2009 and Beyond

Resources

Regional and State Employment and Unemployment - December 2008
U.S. Department of Labor, Jan. 27, 2008

Global Employment Trends Report 2009
The International Labour Organization, Jan. 28, 2009

Unemployment, Working Poor and Vulnerable Employment to Increase Dramatically...
The International Labour Organization, Jan. 28, 2009

Gloom Deepens as 76,000 Jobs Go in a Day
by Justin Baer, Francesco Guerrera, Andrew Ward, Hal Weitzman, Richard Milne and Frances Williams
The Financial Times, Jan. 26 2009