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Montevideo, March 29th 2024 - 09:59 UTC

 

 

US unemployment in March reaches 8.5%

Saturday, April 4th 2009 - 07:07 UTC
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Another 663.000 United States workers lost their jobs in March, slightly more than the 658.000 that had been expected. The US unemployment rate has now hit 8.5%, up from 8.1% in February. Earlier this week, the IMF said it expects the unemployment rate in the developed world to nudge above 10% in 2010.

While the February figure remains largely unchanged, the Bureau of Labour Statistics said the numbers of additional jobless in January had been revised lower. The government department now believes 741.000 lost their jobs in January, down from the earlier estimate of 655.000.

This suggests the figure for March will eventually turn out to be around 800.000, said Rob Carnell, economist at ING. Two million have now lost their jobs since the beginning of the year and a total of 5.5 million people have lost their jobs during this recession.

Friday’s fall is larger than had been forecast, but that had been expected after weaker than forecast ADP jobs data on Wednesday which said 742.000 jobs were lost in the private sector in March. The market was steeled for an ugly number but even so US futures now suggest US markets may tick a little lower at the open after strong gains Wednesday.

Categories: Politics, United States.

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