US jobless numbers increase sharply

US jobless numbers increase sharply

The number of jobs in the United States outside the volatile agricultural sector tumbled by a worse-than-expected 80,000 last month - the biggest fall since July 2003 - data showed today.

The Labor Department also revised down its already-weak February figure of a 63,000 drop to show a slump of 76,000. The March fall is the third month in a row of declines.

Job losses were widespread during the month, with the biggest losses in the construction and manufacturing sectors.

And the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to 5.1% in March from 4.8% in February, the highest rate since September 2005.

The dollar and stock markets fell while bond and gold prices rose as financial markets read the data as signalling that the US economy - the world's largest - was almost certainly in recession.

"It's not a good number, clearly. But the market has been braced for a bad number. Almost every investor, equity and otherwise, would acknowledge that we are in a recession but we still think it is a mild recession, said David Bianco, analyst at UBS in New York.

TJ Marta, strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in New York, agreed:

"That's a very poor number, with not only a downward surprise in March but downward revisions to the prior numbers.

"If you look at initial claims, continuing claims and non-farm payrolls, they are all pointing to similar levels we had at the beginning of or during the 2001 recession. It is hard to say we.....continued below

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are not in recession."

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