U.S. unemployment rate rises to 8.5%
The U.S. economy shed 663,000 jobs in March, while the unemployment rate rose from 8.1% to 8.5%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday.
More than five million jobs in the U.S. have now been lost since the recession began in December 2007, with 3.3 million lost in the last five months.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that in March, job losses were large and widespread across the major industry sectors, including the manufacturing sector, which lost 161,000 jobs, construction, which shed 126,000 positions and professional and business services, which fell by 133,000 last month.
Health care employment continued to trend up in March, gaining 14,000 positions.
MarketWatch reports that the number of job losses was “close to expectations”.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also says that the change in total nonfarm employment for January was revised from a loss of 655,000 jobs to a loss of 741,000.
Friday morning on the Uranium One Bullboard, the following conversation took place regarding the employment numbers and the market:
Georgieboy1 asked: “any word on the USjob report that's due out this morning?
If the numbers are favourable then watch for the mkts to go again and UUU will be right there as well![sic]”
Bearpaws1 said: “663K lost jobs”
Georgieboy1 replied: “Was this expected from the street or did it exceed expectations?[sic]”
DDnGLuck noted: “Only 3000 more than forecasted...markets will be up![sic]”
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