Payrolls Fall by 80,000; Unemployment Rate Rises to 5.1%
U.S. payrolls fell by 80,000 last month in a third straight downturn, and the unemployment rate rose to 5.1% from 4.8%, the Labor Department said Friday.
The decline in jobs followed a 76,000 downturn in February that was bigger than the 63,000 originally reported, and the unemployment rate was the highest since September 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, Bloomberg reported.
The March downturn was more than the 50,000 forecast by economists, Bloomberg said. Analysts had forecast an unemployment rate of 5%.
Manufacturers’ payrolls fell by 48,000, including 24,000 in the automotive and parts industries.
Service industries added 13,000 workers, though retail payrolls fell by 12,400, Labor said.
The unemployment-rate gauge is based on a survey of households. The number of payroll jobs added is determined by a separate survey of business and government establishments.
