-651,000

The job numbers are terrible.

A top White House economic aide said Friday no silver lining could be seen in a surge in unemployment in February but that pieces of a recovery plan are in place and the country needs to "power through" hard times.

"There's no way that we could or should put a positive spin on these," Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers told CNBC, referring to a report that the jobless rate hit 8.1 percent.

"The American people are clearly, we're suffering."

Romer spoke on news that the nation's unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs.

Both figures were worse than analysts expected and the Labor Department's report shows America's workers being clobbered by a relentless wave of layoffs.

It's actually better than I expected, I was thinking 700,000.

The jobs picture could improve as stimulus money comes on line, but I'm feeling very pessimistic about things right now. As long as the zombie banks are hanging out there, we're not going to see a recovery.