| For More Information ... |
For more information about historical unemployment numbers check the Lawn & Landscape Online Unemployment Figures archive. |
WASHINGTON - Climbing two-tenths of a percentage point, the U.S. unemployment rate shot up to 4.5 percent in April, its highest level in two-and-a-half years. During the period, businesses slashed their payrolls by the largest amount since the recession year of 1991.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today that the jobless rate went up for the second straight month. In March, the jobless rate rose to 4.3 percent from February’s 4.2 percent. April's rate was the highest since October 1998, when unemployment also stood at 4.5 percent.
Businesses cut their payrolls in April by 223,000 jobs, the largest reduction since February 1991, when payrolls fell by 259,000. It was the second month in a row that businesses trimmed their payrolls. In March, payrolls fell by 53,000, according to revised figures, a smaller reduction than the government previously reported.
In April, large job losses continued in manufacturing and in help supply services, and construction employment declined after seasonal adjustment.
Today's report showed that manufacturing, which has been bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown, lost 104,000 jobs last month. Declines since June 2000 have totaled 554,000, and two-thirds of those job losses have occurred in the past four months.
Construction, which had been adding jobs over the last several months, lost 64,000 jobs in April. The government said the drop may reflect in part heavy rains over part of the country. The construction and housing businesses have remained healthy during the economic slowdown - a key force in keeping the economy out of recession.
Business services cut 121,000 jobs in April. Temporary employment services experienced another sharp decline of 108,000 last month and have lost 370,000 jobs since September.
Average hourly earnings, a key gauge of inflation, rose 5 cents (0.4 percent) in April to $14.22 an hour. That matched the gain in March. The length of the average workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours in April.