The U.S. economy shed 80,000 jobs in March, the third consecutive month of rising unemployment, the Labor Department said Friday, presenting a stark sign that the country might already be in a recession. Sharp downturns in the manufacturing and construction sectors led the decline, the biggest in five years. The Labor Department also said employers cut far more jobs in January and February than originally estimated. There were fewer jobs in March than there had been five months earlier. In the past 50 years, whenever there has been an employment downturn like the one of the past few months, a recession has followed. The unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent, its highest level since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.
See "80,000 U.S. jobs cut in March; rate of unemployment rises", Michael M. Grynbaum, International Herald Tribune, April 3, 2008