WASHINGTON - March 12, 2009 - The government says that the net worth of Amerikan households fell by the largest amount in more than a half-century of record keeping during the fourth quarter of last year.

The Federal Reserve said Thursday that household net worth dropped by a record 9 percent from the level in the third quarter.

The decline was the sixth straight quarterly drop in net worth and underscored the battering that U.S. families are undergoing in the midst of a steep Depression with unemployment surging and the value of their homes and investments plunging.