Jobs cut for fourth straight month

Source: Exec

Date :02/05/2008 06:29:04

The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that employers cut jobs for the fourth consecutive month. However, the loss of 20,000 jobs was far less than anticipated by economists, who predicted losses could exceed 80,000 for the third month in a row.

The report also showed a surprisingly slight reduction in the unemployment rate from 5.1 to five percent. Analysts had predicted that rate would rise to 5.2 percent for April.

Despite fewer job losses than predicted, employers have cut 260,000 jobs in the past four months. The four-month decline is the longest since a five-month stretch in 2003, a period when the economy was still in recovery mode from the last recession in 2001.

The construction industry continued to absorb heavy losses with 61,000 jobs eliminated in April. The department said that since peaking in September 2006, some 457,000 construction jobs have been lost.

Goods-producing businesses cut 110,000 jobs in April after lopping off 88,000 in March. However, the service industries added 90,000 jobs - the most since December 2007 - with most coming in the health care and professional technical services sectors.

May 02, 2008