Washington - The United States shed 651,000 jobs in February, the latest sign of a deepening recession and raising the unemployment rate to 8.1 per cent, the US Labour Department said Friday.

The unemployment rate now stands at its highest level since 1983 and 4.4 million people have lost their jobs since the US recession began in December 2007 - more than half in just the last four months.

The Labour Department also sharply revised its figures over the last two months, now reporting 681,000 job cuts in December, the worst monthly loss since 1948, and 
655,000 were lost in January. That compares to earlier estimates of 577,000 and 598,000 for the two months.

Job losses were "large and widespread" across nearly all sectors of the economy, led by manufacturing, construction and financial services, the department said. The only major exceptions were the health care industry and government.

US Labour Secretary Hilda Solis said reviving the crumbling job market remained the "central focus" of President Barack Obama's administration.

"We will continue to do whatever is necessary to break the destructive cycle of job loss in this country and put Americans back to work," Solis said in a statement.

Obama, who was visiting a police academy in Ohio Friday, will likely use the latest figures to tout the urgency of quickly disbursing an unprecedented 787-billion-dollar economic stimulus package approved last month.

The administration hopes its plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.

The US economy, the world's largest, shrank 6.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and many economists are expecting a similar contraction at the start of this year. The Federal Reserve has said it doesn't expect a recovery until late this year or early 2010. (dpa)