WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush said Friday that "it's clear our economy has slowed" and tried to reassure an anxious public that the long-term outlook is good.

Video: Bush Discusses Economy, Labor Report

"Losing a job is painful and I know Americans are concerned about our economy. So am I," Bush said during a hastily arranged White House appearance on the heels of a gloomy government economic report that said employers slashed jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, also showed that the nation's unemployment rate dipped to 4.8 percent as hundreds of thousands of people -- perhaps discouraged by their prospects -- left the civilian labor force. The jobless rate was 4.9 percent in January.

"I know this is a difficult time for our economy," he said. "But we recognized the problem early and we provided the economy with a booster shot."

Congress passed and Bush signed a stimulus package that will send tax rebates to many families and businesses. But some fear it will come too late - or that people will use the money to save or pay off debt, rather than go on a spending spree that will boost the economy.

Bush gently urged people to do the latter. "When the money reaches the American people, we expect it to boost consumer spending," he said.

According to the Labor Department, job losses were widespread, with hefty cuts coming from construction, manufacturing, retailing and a variety of professional and business services. Those losses swamped gains elsewhere, including education and health care, leisure and hospitality, and the government.

A report finds consumer confidence in the economy has sunk to a mark of 33.1. The RBC Cash Index report was down from a previous low of 48.5 just last month. The new reading is the worst since the index began in 2002.

Worries about a possible recession, persistent problems in the housing and credit markets and lofty energy prices have apparently put people in a more gloomy mindset.

Economist Richard Yamarone said from homes, to grocery stores, to gas stations, "there's very little for the consumer to cheer about." Income strategist T.J. Marta said consumers are "definitely in full defensive mode."

The RBC Cash Index is based on results of the international polling firm Ipsos.

The latest readout comes at a time when the central bank and the government are taking action to boost the economy.

The Federal Reserve took new steps Friday to ease the credit crises, including increasing the amount of money it will auction to banks this month to $100 billion.

The Fed said it will make two moves to increase liquidity in the credit markets. First, it will increase the size of its March 10 and 24 auctions to banks to $50 billion each. The auctions had been set for $30 billion apiece. Fed officials say they are prepared to move to even larger amounts at future auctions if necessary.

The Fed also said that, starting Friday, it will begin a series of repurchase transactions expected to reach $100 billion.

The Labor Department's job report showed that the job losses suffered in January were worse than the government first reported. Employers cut 22,000 jobs, versus 17,000.

It was the first monthly back-to-back job losses since May and June 2003, when the job market was still struggling to recover from the blows of the 2001 recession.

The health of the nation's job market is a critical factor shaping how the overall economy fares. If companies continue to cut back on hiring, that will spell even more trouble.

Friday's report was much weaker than economists were expecting. They were forecasting employers to boost payrolls by around 25,000. However, they were expecting the jobless rate to edge up to 5 percent. The reason why the jobless rate went down, rather than up, is because so many people stopped looking for work and left the labor force.

Workers with jobs, however, saw modest wage gains.

Average hourly earnings for jobholders rose to $17.80 in February, a 0.3 percent increase from the previous month. That was on target with economists' forecasts. Over the last 12 months, wages were up 3.7 percent. With high energy and food prices, though, workers may feel squeezed and feel like their paychecks aren't stretching that far.