Jobless Rate Increases to 4-Year High: Unemployment Rate Reaches 4-Year High
Unemployment. continued to rise in March, reaching the hi sliest mark in 4Ûªa t ears, the government announced yesterday.</br></br>And the increase since December was tlie steepest quarterly pain since the recession > car of fflfif), Bureau of f,ahnr Statistics figures showed.</br></br>RI.S said the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 4.2 per cent, of the labor force ;n February to 4 4 per cent with the brunt of the increase fulling on women. It had been 3,9 per cent in January and 3.o per cent in December.</br></br>There were no apparent flukes to explain the March increase, In tact, it occurred despite a bulge in jobs of 90,000 iemporarr census takers.</br></br>Although there was a moderate gain in employment., an unexplained jump in the labor force was even bigger, resulting in a seasonally adjusted increase of 230.000 in those seeking work who are without jobs, Unemployment stood at 3.7 million for the month.