U.S. employment plummeted last month by a degree not seen since the last recession, in just an early glimpse of the devastation from the coronavirus pandemic. Payrolls fell 701,000 from the prior month — compared with the median forecast of economists for a 100,000 decline — according to Labor Department data Friday that mainly covered the early part of March, before government-mandated shutdowns forced firms to lay off millions more workers. This was the first decline in monthly payrolls since 2010.
The jobless rate jumped to 4.4% — the highest since 2017 — from a half-century low of 3.5%, and is expected to surge in the coming months. Bloomberg Economics sees the rate rising to 15% soon, while Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said it may hit 30% this quarter.