By Amanda Curry
The Daily Vidette, Illinois State U.

(UWire)--Last month, unemployment rates rose to 8.5 percent, the highest rate since 1983. In March alone 663,000 workers lost their jobs. This contributed to a total of 13.2 million unemployed Americans.

The percentage would be higher, about 15.6 percent, if laid-off workers who have given up looking for a new job or had to take a part-time job instead were considered. According to a recent article, economists expect this pattern to continue for the remainder of this year at least.

They also predict that unemployment rates may not be back to normal, about five percent, until 2013. The bleak job market is a fear for May graduates who are currently job searching.

Unemployment is not the only negative result of the recession

"It's been a little frustrating. I am getting nervous that it will take a while to get a job related to my major," Kara Kovach, Illinois State University senior psychology major, said. "If I don't find one, I'll most likely be returning to my summer job at home to make money."

"I'm just hoping something comes along by the end of summer."

Neil Skaggs, economics professor, encourages college students to make the best of the situation.

"Get out there and knock on doors. The job you really want may not be available, but there are more 'real jobs' out there than you might think," he said. "If you catch on with a company and do good work, that helps build your resume, which could be a big benefit when the economy begins to roll again."

Unemployment is not the only negative result of the recession. Workers who have kept their jobs are watching their paychecks shrink and hours decrease.

The average work week dropped to 33.2 hours last month.

Business owners are also seeing the harsh effects of the recession in terms of decreased sales.

"It appears to me that most items that are manufactured or that are commodity items or perishable items in the United States seem to be down in sales by about 60 percent," Russ Lavaja, part-owner of Tri-State Steel, said. "At this point it seems like it's getting pretty close to bottoming out. Prices have fallen through the floor."

Three-quarters of Americans work in the service industry, such as hotels, retail, education and healthcare. These industries received more bad news when an index of services activity shrank for the sixth straight month, according to the Institute for Supply Management, a Tempe, Arizona-based trade group of purchasing executives.

While retail and hospitality industries have been cutting employees, education and health care continue to see some gains.

The Obama administration has launched a 787 billion dollar stimulus package that is intended to go to states' public works projects, help them avoid budget cuts, further unemployment benefits and boost food stamp benefits.

"Much of the spending will be delayed by projects that aren't ready to go, and much of the spending will go to simply keep businesses, or universities, in some cases, going at their previous levels," Skaggs said. "The projects that will help most are likely to be construction projects that are ready to go."

"As soon as the weather cooperates, a lot of road work and bridge work will get underway. That will help the construction industry, and construction workers buy a lot of consumer goods, which will create a small 'multiplier effect."