The nation lost 651,000 non-farm payroll jobs during February. According to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country has seen its employment numbers fall by 2.6 million during the last four months.

During February, the country saw its unemployment rate increase from 7.6 to 8.1 percent. The number of unemployed persons increased by 851,000 to 12.5 million. During the last year, the number of unemployed persons has increased by about 5 million and the unemployment rate has increased by 3.3 percent.

The number of unemployed adult men came in at 8.1 percent, adult women at 6.7 percent, whites at 7.3 percent, blacks at 13.4 percent, Hispanics at 10.9 percent, Asians at 6.9 percent and teenagers at 21.6 percent.

Almost every industry took a hit from January to February, with the professional and business services, manufacturing and construction industries receiving the biggest job losses. Healthcare, the only industry to add jobs during February, increased by 27,000 positions.

The industries that saw a decrease in jobs during February include:

Accordingly, the number of jobs posted online during February also declined. The Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Online Data Series notes that the number of jobs posted online during the month decreased by 6,600. This means about 3,348,000 jobs were posted for the month, just more than two jobs per every 100 people.

Many experienced workers are finding themselves spending countless hours searching for jobs, in most cases to no avail. As more and more companies continue to lay off workers, the job pool decreases and the number of unemployed workers increases.

One downfall, according to an article by Examiner, is that many job seekers rely solely on the Internet to find jobs. Using online job search tactics only can considerably limit your options. One study found that an average of 300 job seekers apply to an online job posting, meaning when you apply to a job online, you could be competing with 299 other people for the same position.

“Here’s the bigger issue: If you’ve been hoping and praying that you’ll be able to land a job by submitting resumes online, texting, emailing, or otherwise avoiding good, old-fashioned networking, think again,” the article notes. “Calling people on a regular basis (even when they don’t get back to you), following up, meeting for lunch, coffee, going to conferences (even if they are in other cities) – these are only some of the activities that need to be part of your job search arsenal.

“Sure, some of these activities cost money, and following up with people (as opposed to stalking them) can get tedious, but we need to do more of this stuff more often, particularly when times are tough,” the article continues. “Calling someone once or twice and giving up, or getting mad, bitter or depressed, when they don’t get back to us does not a networker make.”

Especially among the current job market, job seekers should focus on networking more than anything else as well as using other available resources. While you might night see an immediate payoff or result, you’ll be thought of when a job does become available.