"Sales are very soft right now," said Sobrino, whose company distributes dessert snacks to about 5,000 stores in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas. "It'll depend on how the holidays go. Buyers are postponing their appointments until January. They don't want to see any new products until next year."
"I'm looking for a miracle to happen," she said.
On Wall Street, stocks rallied from an initial decline, with the Dow Jones industrial average gaining more than 250 points. Analysts differed over the reasons, with some chalking it up to another sign of the unpredictability and volatility of the market these days.
The economy officially entered a recession a year ago, but economists say the downturn deepened sharply when financial markets crashed in September.
From January to August, job cuts averaged 82,000 a month. Since September, the average has been 419,000 jobs a month.
At the White House, the bad news prompted President Bush to make a public statement on the economy in which he used the word "recession" for the first time to refer to the current downturn.
"Today's job data reflects the fact that our economy is in a recession," Bush said, speaking on the South Lawn. "This is in large part because of severe problems in our housing, credit and financial markets, which have resulted in significant job losses."
Bush, in his final weeks as president, has little clout left with lawmakers. White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the administration was focused on implementing the current rescue package aimed at the financial markets. A more broadly focused stimulus package "is something that we expect to happen in the next administration," he said.
Still, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) urged Bush to lift his opposition to a House-passed economic assistance bill that stalled in the Senate two months ago.
"Our economy cannot wait for a new president, a new Congress or a new year to provide assistance to millions of Americans who have been ignored by the White House as the economy has steadily worsened," Pelosi said in a statement.
All the same, the Democratic leaders who control Congress are mostly focused on what can be done once Obama is inaugurated. Lawmakers are already drawing up plans for a massive economic recovery package -- estimates range from $400 billion to $700 billion -- designed to create jobs and spur consumer spending.
An economic recovery couldn't come soon enough for Karina Davila, 25, of South-Central Los Angeles, who was laid off from her administrative position at a Los Angeles law firm two months ago.
To support herself and her four young sons, the single mother has turned to her savings, her parents and assistance from the county. She hasn't eaten out in five months, and she put away her cell- phone for three weeks to make ends meet. She only recently reactivated her phone so potential employers could contact her.
"It's been a struggle, but I've been hanging on," she said.
Despite gloomy economic predictions, Davila is optimistic that she and her kids will be OK.
"I am struggling but I have a roof over my kids tonight," she said. "I'm looking for an office job but I'm willing to take a fast-food restaurant job as long as I can support my kids."
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maura.reynolds@latimes.com
catherine.ho@latimes.com
