Markets braced for dismal US February jobs numbers Friday after a series of weak data that pointed to another historic level of unemployment amid the intensifying recession.
The Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show the economy shed 650,000 jobs last month, according to most analysts' forecasts.
That would compare with 598,000 job losses in January, the highest number since 1974.
The consensus forecast is for the unemployment rate to rise to 7.9 percent, from the 16-year high of 7.6 percent registered in January.
The Labor Department data are scheduled for release at 1330 GMT.
The department's monthly report on the labor market is seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum.
Based on the most recent government estimate, the US economy contracted at an eye-popping 6.2 percent pace in the fourth quarter of 2008, and some analysts say the downturn may be even worse in the first quarter of 2009.
"The current recession, which initially affected the housing and financial sectors, has now disappointingly spread across a broad swath of the economy," Mike Fitzpatrick at MF Global said after a spate of grim jobs news this week.
On Thursday, the Labor Department reported initial jobless claims fell in the week ending February 28 to 639,000 from the previous week's 670,000, but remained above 600,000 for the fifth consecutive week.
"Despite this decline which is good news, initial claims remained at a very high level at the end of February, suggesting that the period of strong layoffs is not over," said Marie-Pierre Ripert at Natixis.
A four-week rolling average, considered a more reliable indicator of labor trends, showed initial jobless claims edged up to 641,750, the highest number since late October 1982.
In the week ending February 21, the world's largest economy had 5.106 million workers on the jobless rolls, according to the Labor Department.
Private payrolls firm ADP data showed Wednesday the private sector shed a whopping 697,000 jobs in February, far above the 630,000 losses expected and surging higher from January.
Seamus Smyth at Goldman Sachs said the economy appeared to have remained stuck in an "intense firing phase" through late January and into early February.
"Initial jobless claims have remained over 600,000 per week which indicates that plenty of previously employed workers were becoming unemployed. And continuing jobless claims have relentlessly increased, which points toward hiring demand remaining anemic," Smyth said.
The backward-looking jobs report likely will underscore the challenges facing President Barack Obama's administration in stabilizing a teetering financial system and pulling the shrinking economy out of a second year of recession.
A sweeping 787-billion-dollar stimulus package Obama signed into law on February 17, combining tax cuts and massive spending, was not expected to deliver rapid results.
The report, to be used at the upcoming meeting of Fed policymakers March 17-18, said the troubles were broad-based, including "substantial job cuts."
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