Unemployment worsens

San francisco. Tania Khadder (L), 29, and John Henion, 32, both unemployed online journalists, hold signs announcing a new blog called "unemploymentality.com". U.S. employers slashed payrolls by 524,000 in December 2008, driving the national unemployment rate to its highest level in almost 16 years, 7.2 percent, a government report showed, suggesting the year-long recession was deepening.