FYI: 651,000 Jobs Lost in February

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the national unemployment rate surged last month to 8.1 percent, its highest level in 24 years. More.We just clicked "more." Going beyond the numbers:

some economists believe a fundamental restructuring is underway.

Uh oh.

In crucial industries — particularly manufacturing, financial services and retail — many companies have opted to abandon whole areas of business. “These jobs aren’t coming back,” said John E. Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia in Charlotte. “A lot of production either isn’t going to happen at all, or it’s going to happen somewhere other than the United States. There are going to be fewer stores, fewer factories, fewer financial services operations. Firms are making strategic decisions that they don’t want to be in their businesses.” [...] Friday’s report reinforced the degree to which the economy is being assailed at once by panic in the financial system, falling household spending power and plunging real estate prices, with growing numbers of companies resorting to wholesale layoffs after months of merely declining to hire. [...] But history also shows that when fear lifts, the economy returns not to normalcy but to wherever it was when the crisis began, Mr. Harris said. That means that even if order is restored to the financial system, the economy will still be staring at a recession.

Double uh-oh. Fortunately for our editorial staff, the money continues to flow like water here in the blog-o-sphere.