Shutting Down: Weak Employment Data As Virus Impact Begins To Show Up In The Numbers

Shutting Down: Weak Employment Data As Virus Impact Begins To Show Up In The Numbers

Loss of 701,000 jobs last month was much worse than analyst consensus. Jobs did a quicker-than-expected vanishing act last month as coronavirus tightened its iron grip on the reeling U.S. economy.. Job losses raced up by 701,000 in March, the government said Friday, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, from 3.5% previously.. Health care and social assistance also saw jobs disappear, which is a little surprising for health care when you consider the fight against the pandemic was picking up steam even by early March.. One thing to keep in mind about the payrolls data is that it was collected in mid-March, so it doesn't pick up all the economic carnage that happened later in the month.. To put things in context, this dramatic monthly plunge in jobs comes after job growth averaged 196,000 per month in the previous 12 months.. Making things even worse was the government cutting its estimates for both January and February jobs growth by a combined 57,000.. If you're trading in this market today, be aware that things could get volatile.. If there's anything positive to say, maybe it's that the report picked up more of the job losses than analysts had expected, meaning