Associated Press - March 6, 2009 8:24 PM ET

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - American employers slashed 651,000 jobs in February, even more than analysts expected.

When the monthly numbers come out, the focus is on the newly unemployed. Less attention is paid to the stress levels of those delivering the news. Those people say they aren't all cold-hearted, script-reading drones who don't care about the people they are cutting loose.

Marty Flaska works for Hoist Liftruck in Bedford Park. He was the kind of company owner who befriended his employees. For years, he would joke on the factory floor with the machinists and welders. Now the smile is gone, the small talk rare.

His company has gone from 330 employees six months ago to 79 now. Flaska has personally given pink slips to each laid-off employee, often to people whose children he has seen grow from toddlers to teens.

The 48-year-old says he has had tears in his eyes for months on end.

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