We hate to say it, but this recession will only get worse.

The Labor Department released their unemployment numbers this morning, and they’re pretty grim. An estimated 598,000 Americans received pink slips last month, far more than the 524,000 economists predicted. These latest numbers are the largest since 1974 and bring the nation’s unemployment rate up to 7.6%, a level unseen since 1992. The figures will no doubt put more pressure on President Barack Obama and his team to save the economy.

More startling than these numbers, Huffington Post reports that 3.6 million people have lost their jobs since the recession began in December of 2007. There are an estimated 11.6 million unemployed people in the States to date.

Here’s a brief breakdown of the industries hit hardest: 

Factories slashed 207,000 jobs in January, the largest one-month drop since October 1982, partly reflecting heavy losses at plants making autos and related parts. Construction companies got rid of 111,000 jobs. Professional and business services chopped 121,000 positions. Retailers eliminated 45,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality axed 28,000 slots.

Those reductions swamped employment gains in education and health services, as well as in the government.

…

Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed has increased by 4.1 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 2.7 percentage points.

Job hunters also are facing longer searches for work.

The average time it took for an unemployed person to find any job — full- or part-time — rose to 19.8 weeks in January, compared with 17.5 weeks a year ago, underscoring the increasing difficulty the out-of-work are having in finding a new job.

Unfortunately for all of us, things are expected to get worse before they get better.