After a record 113 straight months of hiring, the government’s monthly jobs report Friday is expected to show that the American jobs machine came to a sudden halt in March as a result of the coronavirus. Economists have forecast that the government will say employers shed about 150,000 jobs and that the unemployment rate rose from a half-century low of 3.5% to 3.9%, according to FactSet. But the jobs figure will vastly understate the magnitude of last month’s losses because the government surveyed employers before the heaviest layoffs struck in the past two weeks. Nearly 10 million Americans have since applied for unemployment benefits.
Posted
and last updated
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
,
Weather
Sunday
12/28/2025
Mostly Clear
-° / 40°
5%
Monday
12/29/2025
Mostly Clear
53° / 39°
7%
Tuesday
12/30/2025
Mostly Cloudy
53° / 45°
12%
Wednesday
12/31/2025
Rain
52° / 50°
80%
Thursday
01/01/2026
Partly Cloudy
60° / 51°
10%
Friday
01/02/2026
Showers
62° / 53°
49%
Saturday
01/03/2026
Cloudy
61° / 49°
24%
Sunday
01/04/2026
Partly Cloudy
59° / 45°
17%