Job seeker Cher Connor, left, listens as Henry Savage, a supervisor with U.S. Customs and Border Protection explains employment with his agency as other Job seekers talk with recruiters from potential employers at the Monster.com Job Fair at the Red Lion Bellevue Inn, in Bellevue, Wash., on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008. Nervous employers cut 17,000 jobs in January _ the first such reduction in more than four years and a fresh sign that the economy is in danger of stalling. The Labor Department's report, released Friday, also showed that the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.9 percent, from 5 percent, as the civilian labor force shrank slightly. (AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey)