March jobs report: U.S. economy loses 701,000 payrolls, unemployment rate jumps to 4.4%

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The U.S. economy shed jobs for the first time in a decade in March and the unemployment rate rose more than expected, as the coronavirus pandemic began to erode domestic economic activity.

The Department of Labor released its monthly jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday. Here were the main metrics from the report, compared to consensus data compiled by Bloomberg:

Change in non-farm payrolls, March: -701,000 vs. -100,000 expected and +275,000 in February

Unemployment rate, March: 4.4% vs. 3.8% expected and 3.5% in February

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The reference period for the March jobs report extended through the 12th of the month, meaning that the data was captured before much of the country went on lockdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Namely, this jobs report excludes the two-week period at the end of March that saw new unemployment claims skyrocket to a combined 9.9 million.

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