Recession-battered employers eliminated598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, andcatapulted the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The grim figureswere further proof that the nation's job climate is deterioratingat an alarming clip with no end in sight.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed theterrible toll the drawn-out recession is having on workers andcompanies. It also puts even more pressure on President BarackObama to revive the economy.

The latest net total of job losses was far worse than the524,000 that economists expected. Job reductions in November andDecember also were deeper than previously reported.

With cost-cutting employers in no mood to hire, the unemploymentrate bolted to 7.6 percent in January, the highest since September1992. The increase in the jobless rate from 7.2 percent in Decemberalso was worse than the 7.5 percent rate economists expected.

All told, the economy has lost a staggering 3.6 million jobssince the start of the recession in December 2007. About one-halfof this decline occurred in the past three months.