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March Unemployment Rate Hits 8.5%
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 3, 2009
Modified Apr 3, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 3, 2009
Modified Apr 3, 2009
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From the Bureau of Labor Statistics: "Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline sharply in March (-663,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.1 to 8.5 percent... Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, with almost two-thirds (3.3 million) of the decrease occurring in the last 5 months." This is the highest unemployment has been since November 1983. The BLS also "drastically revised the job losses in January to 741,000 from the earlier report of 655,000." Yikes! Apparently the Federal Reserve expect unemployment to hit a high of 8.8%, but some believe it could reach 10%. More depressing news: The Wall Street Journal points out the U-6 rate of unemployment was is 15.6% in March (up from 14.8% in Feb.); U-6 "accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs."
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Bureau of Labor Statistics
jobless
unemployment rate
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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