The U.S. economy lost a net total of 63,000 jobs in February, the second month in a row that the job market shrank, and the worst decline in five years.
There were steep job losses in construction, manufacturing and retail sales, overwhelming modest gains in health care and food services.
Friday's Labor Department report also said the jobless rate declined slightly to 4.8 percent.
The unemployment rate declined because hundreds of thousands of people were discouraged by the economic situation and stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as part of the workforce.
Labor officials say the number of people working part-time who would prefer full-time jobs also grew.
The discouraging report on job creation makes it even more likely that the U.S. central bank will continue trying to boost the faltering economy by cutting interest rates.
Source: By VOA News
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