This morning’s non farm payrolls number for the month of November was expected to be bad, but almost no one expected it to be as bad as it actually was. How bad were the job losses in the month of November? A stunning 533,000 jobs were lost last month alone. Economists had been expecting losses of about 350,000 jobs during the month of November. The jobless rate jumped to 6.7% in November. Service-producing industries lost a record 370,000 jobs last month alone. As if last month’s data wasn’t bad enough by itself, the job losses for September and October were revised much lower, by a total of 199,000 jobs.

Many economists say that this is a sign of either a very deep recession coming, or possibly even a depression. This was the most jobs lost in a single month in the last 34 years, so there is clearly a significant amount of pain going around in this country. For the broader economy the message is clear, things are terrible and they are getting worse very fast.

What should you do in a period of record job losses and so much uncertainty about the overall economy? As a consumer you should take every step possible to get your groceries and goods at the cheapest price possible and save on all other costs such as transportation costs. While it is certainly hurtful to think of losing your job, with the economy losing so many jobs and companies being pinched and forced into more layoffs I think it is a good idea to have yourself a rainy day fund of some kind. By this I mean, set aside a little bit of money in case you are laid off from your current job, just so you have enough to make ends meet while trying to find any kind of income possible. Protecting yourself from the possibility of future pain is the name of the game right now. As hard as it may seem to save a little bit now in case things turn horribly bad for you and your family, it would be that much harder if you don’t plan ahead.