U.S. jobless rate hits 8.5%
More than 663,000 Americans lost their jobs in March, bringing the nation's unemployment rate to a 25-year high of 8.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Since the recession started in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have disappeared, including 3.3 million in the past five months.
Employers trimmed their payrolls by 651,000 in February, when unemployment reached 8.1 percent of the workforce.
The job losses have helped dampen consumer spending and demand for imported goods.
U.S. jobless rate hits 8.5%
