Pennsylvania lost 41,000 jobs in February, a 13-year high

Pennsylvania lost 41,000 jobs in February, the largest one-month span of job loss in the state in more than 13 years. According to media reports, about 1 in every 140 Pennsylvania jobs were lost in February, marking the worst drop-off in a single month since January 1996.

Since the recession began, Pennsylvanians have lost more than 100,000 jobs, leaving the state with less jobs than it had in July 2005, according to state figures.

"It's clearly beginning to hit Pennsylvania in a way that it hasn't so far," Mark Price, labor economist with the Harrisburg-based Keystone Research Center, told the Associated Press. "Hopefully this is a blip, but we're going to definitely continue to lose jobs, hopefully not at this pace."

Governor Ed Rendell announced the numbers Thursday, the same day he called on Philadelphia-based oil refiner Sunoco to reverse its plans to cut 750 jobs, or about 20 percent of the salaried workforce.

Latin America suffers drop in remittances

Slumping economies in the United States, Spain and Japan are causing reverberations in the countries of Latin America as migrant workers send less money home. The Inter-American Development Bank reported that for the first time since they began tracking remittances in 2000, remittances to Latin America declined in the fourth quarter of 2008, dropping 2% relative to the fourth quarter of 2007. In January, remittances declined further, with Colombia experiencing a 16% drop relative to 2008, Brazil suffering a 14% decline, Mexico 12%, and Guatemala and El Salvador each falling 8%. These numbers come as 2008 saw an average 10% increase in remittances. Nearly US$70 billion was sent back to families in those areas in 2008.

Low-skilled jobs such as construction, manufacturing, and restaurant and hotel work have been especially negatively impacted by the global economic crisis, putting the squeeze on migrant workers who depend on these industries. The fall in remittances could have long term effects in the workers' home countries: In times of scarcity, spending on health care and education -- investments that alleviate poverty -- gives way in favor of the bare necessities of survival.