March 6 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. unemployment rate jumped in February to 8.1 percent, the highest level in more than a quarter century, a surge likely to send more Americans into bankruptcy and force further cutbacks in consumer spending.

Employers eliminated 651,000 jobs, the third straight month that losses surpassed 600,000 -- the first time that’s happened since the data began in 1939, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington.

Today’s report indicates the economy is in worse shape than previously estimated and may need additional federal measures to help stop what may become the worst recession in the postwar era. The jobless rate has now already reached the level the Obama administration projected as an average for the whole year.

“The overall economy is going to be in this recession a little longer than expected,” John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Treasuries fell, sending 10-year note yields up to 2.84 percent at 10:11 a.m. in New York from 2.81 percent late yesterday, on concern debt sales will climb as officials spend more to fight the crisis. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index rose 0.5 percent to 686.02 amid some investor relief the drop in payrolls didn’t exceed the range of economists’ forecasts.

Obama’s Goal

While President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan aims at creating or saving 3.5 million jobs, today’s report showed the U.S. has now already lost 4.4 million since December 2007, with more declines coming. Tumbling global demand is prompting companies from General Motors Corp. to Sears Holdings Corp. to step up firings.

“The magnitude of these losses indicates that additional measures will likely be needed,” Representative Carolyn Maloney, chairman of the congressional Joint Economic Committee, said in a statement after the release. “As unemployment continues to rise, our foreclosure crisis will only grow worse.”

More than 103,000 individuals and companies filed for bankruptcy in February, a private report showed this week. The destruction of U.S. household wealth left about 8.3 million Americans owing more on their mortgages in the fourth quarter than their properties were worth, other figures showed.

Payroll revisions for January and December lopped off an additional 161,000 positions. The drop in January was revised to 655,000, and December’s to 681,000, the biggest decrease since October 1949.

 Fonte: Bloomberg