Jobless Rate Soars to 8.5%; 663,000 Jobs Lost in March

The U.S. economy shed more than 660,000 jobs in the month of March, the Labor Department said Friday, bringing the nation’s unemployment rate to its highest level since the early 1980s.

According to the Labor Department, U.S. employers shed 663,000 jobs in March -- a figure largely in line with what economists were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters.

The job losses brought the nation’s unemployment rate up to 8.5% from 8.1%, the highest unemployment rate since November 1983.

The Labor Department revised upward the number of jobs lost in January by 86,000 -- from 655,000 jobs to 741,000 jobs. February’s job figures were not revised.

Today's jobs report once again reminded both government figures,Wall Street and Main Street that the nation's jobs picture continues to become bleaker and bleaker. Since the recession began in 15 months ago, the U.S. economy has now lost 5.1 million jobs, with 3.3 million jobs lost in the last five months.

Nearly every sector of the economy lost jobs with the exception of education and health care. Even the state and local governments, which traditionally add a modest number of jobs each month, lost 5,000 jobs in March.

"These declines have been widespread across industry sectors, but particularly sharp in manufacturing, construction and temporary-help services," said Keith Hall, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Of the major industrial sectors, services took the brunt of the pain. According to the Labor Department, the service sector lost 358,000 jobs during the month. Professional and business services positions, often considered attractive high-paying and high-quality jobs, lost 133,000 jobs during the month.

The only sector to add a modest amount of jobs were the education and health sector, where employers added 8,000 jobs during March.

There was also deep deterioration in other indicators of the labor market. According to the BLS, the number of people who were considered "involuntary part-time workers," or people who want full-time jobs but cannot find them for economic reasons, jumped by 423,000 people to 9 million.

Discouraged workers, or people who are not looking for a job because they believe no work exists, rose by 285,000 people from a year ago to 685,000.

What is a somewhat stunning figure, the less-tracked Labor Department's "total unemployment rate," which includes the unemployment rate, marginally-attached workers and involuntarily part-time workers, rose to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 15.6%. That roughly translates as one out of seven U.S. workers are financially hindered by this struggling economy.

"Any which way you slice it, this is a terrible economic report that shows no amelioration of the labor market’s woes," said Dan Greenhaus, with the brokerage firm Miller Tabak.

U.S. hourly earnings rose by 0.2% to $18.50 an hour while the average number of hours worked fell by 0.1 to 33.2 hours - a new record low for that indicator as well.


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