Job Losses Raise Recession Fears

US employers eliminated 17,000 jobs in January, the government reported Friday, the first decline in the work force in more than four years, and the strongest signal yet that the United States may be in the early stages of a recession.

The broad weakness in the job market, which affected many sectors, shows how the collapse of the housing bubble is rippling through the rest of the economy and suggests the likelihood of more pain for millions of American families in the months ahead from job losses, lower real wages and fewer working hours.

Employment has been weakening for months. While employers continued to add jobs last year, they did so at an ever slower pace, averaging just 42,000 jobs a month in the fourth quarter and 95,000 jobs a month for all of last year. That was down sharply from 175,000 a month in 2006, when the recovery from the 2001 recession was still in full swing.