Workers and their families continue to struggle in the face of increased job loss, with U.S. companies and governments slashing 108,000 jobs last month, the U.S. Labor Department reported April 4, including 36,000 jobs lost in manufacturing.

The new figures mean that 2.1 million jobs have been lost since President George W. Bush took office—the worst overall job growth rate under any president in 58 years.

But neither the Bush administration nor Congress are reaching out a hand to jobless Americans, says AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney. He points to the massive crisis in the airline industry, with more than 150,000 jobs lost since January 2001, which “offers a sad example of how the government has neglected working families.”

“Congress and President Bush deliberately refused to include assistance to laid-off airline workers when it passed a corporate bailout bill at the end of 2001 and the president continues to talk down how much assistance the government will give, despite massive layoffs,” Sweeney says.

Bush, who is pushing for another massive millionaire tax cut, claimed the first such tax cut in 2001 would create jobs and turn around the economy. But since then, “we have lost jobs and the economic situation has deteriorated,” says Sweeney. “President Bush is wrong. Congress can build a stronger, more secure future for all Americans and for our children by building schools and roads, investing in hospitals and job training.”

Jobless Picture Likely to Get Bleaker

The unemployment rate, which remained at 5.8 percent, stayed steady most likely because many people have stopped looking for work, believing no jobs are available: Some 1.6 million unemployed workers want jobs but did not actively look in the past month—200,000 more than one year ago. The economic situation for working people remains weak.

Even worse, say economists, working families may face even tougher times ahead. “We’re looking at a bad picture here, but it’s certainly going to be worse next month,” predicts Dean Baker, economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). “That’s because the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ job loss survey was made before the war in Iraq started and the airlines started new layoffs, which won’t show up until the April numbers.”

“Fifteen months into what is supposedly an economic recovery, we are still losing jobs and have fewer jobs than when the recovery technically ended in December 2001,” says Charles McMillion, president and chief economist of MBG Information Services.

More Workers Seek Unemployment Insurance

Some 445,000 workers filed new applications for unemployment insurance for the week ending March 29, according to the Labor Department. This is the highest level of new claims since the week ending April 13, 2002. For the week ending March 22, the number of workers continuing to receive unemployment benefits grew by 107,000 to 3.61 million total.

“This jobless recovery has been even worse for workers than the first President Bush’s jobless recovery in 1991 and 1992, and chances are the labor market will remain stagnant through the end of the year,” McMillion adds.

Yet even while the number of unemployed workers continues to swell, congressional Republicans seem oblivious to the daily economic realities of working families.

On March 31, Matt Weidinger, the staff director for Republicans on the House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee, told a conference on unemployment issues that the unemployment insurance (UI) system “encourages dependence” and is due for an overhaul.

In fact, the unemployment system often unfairly denies workers benefits, even though most states have ample reserves, Maurice Emsellem, public policy director for the National Employment Law Project (NELP), said at the conference. Many states have cut benefits for part-time workers, temporary workers and those who quit work for family reasons. And about 38 percent of people collecting UI benefits receive fewer than 26 weeks of state benefits, he said.

More

Read AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney’s statement on the latest job loss figures.

Read the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute update on jobs, wages and unemployment.

Read the Institute for Supply Management’s April 3 report on the first decline in non-manufacturing business activity in 14 months.

See ABC News/Money magazine’s respected consumer confidence poll released April 2 showing a level of negativity not seen since December 1993.

Find out more about the state of the economy at the CEPR.

Visit NELP to learn about unemployment benefits.