US March payrolls fall 80,000; unemployment rate rises to 5.1 pct
WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - The US economy has now been shedding jobs for three consecutive months, and the unemployment rate has risen to its highest level in two and a half years, the Labor Department said today.
The economy lost 80,000 non-farm payroll jobs in March, compared to the 50,000 job loss economists polled by Thomson's IFR Markets had expected, although some individual forecasters had predicted an even larger loss.
February and March payrolls were revised down by 67,000 jobs for a total cumulative loss of 152,000 jobs.
Today's report marks the first time since June 2003 that the economy lost jobs in three consecutive months, and the 80,000 decline was the biggest loss since March of that year.
The losses add to already growing recessionary fears, since economists have said the economy needs to create about 100,000 jobs each month to keep up with new entrants to the workforce.
The unemployment rate, taken from a separate survey of households, jumped to 5.1 pct from 4.8 pct in February. That was the highest rate since September of 2005. Economists polled by Thomson IFR were expecting a 5.0 pct rate.
The number of people joining the labor force rose, as did the labor force participation rate, which pushes the unemployment rate higher. The official unemployment rate only includes workers who are actively seeking a job.
The job losses and gains for March mostly followed what has become a consistent pattern.
The construction sector lost 51,000 jobs, and manufacturing lost 48,000. That's the largest number of manufacturing jobs lost since October 2006.
Services jobs have accounted for most of the private sector job gains, but the increases have been modest in recent months. For March, service jobs rose 13,000. However, retailing, financial, and business and professional services jobs were all down.
Government jobs increased by 18,000. That too is less than the long-term trend of 25,000 additional government jobs per month.
Average hourly wages rose 0.3 pct in March, or 0.05 usd, to 17.86 usd. Economists were expecting a 0.3 pct increase in hourly wages.
The average workweek rose slightly to 33.8 hours from 33.7. |
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