US Unemployment Hits a Record

Cleaning professionals are far from the only U.S. employees left without work during the coronavirus pandemic. Friday’s jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor found the United States lost 701,000 nonfarm payroll jobs through March 12.

This number marks a sharp decline from the revised number of job gains for February and is far deeper than the 100,000 job losses forecast by economists, Business Insider reports.

This week’s report is also the first since 2010 showing job loss, ending a 113-month streak of job creation. In addition, the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 3.5% in February.

As the current jobs report only references the week and pay periods up to March 12, next month’s report will show more extensive job losses.