The economy continues to lose jobs, but the pace of these losses did moderate somewhat in April; posting the smallest decline in six months, shares Jeff Testerman of www.brokerhunter.com. According to the Department of Labor, payrolls fell by 539,000 workers as unemployment reached a quarter-century high of 8.9 percent.
These numbers were in line with economist’s forecasts and losses were reported across many industries. Buried in the text of the report, there was a further downward revision of 66,000 jobs for February and March. All told, 5.7 million people have lost jobs in this recession which started in December 2007, Testerman says.
The securities industry continues to lose workers, with the latest report showing 14,100 jobs being cut in April. Though overall job losses moderated nationwide in April, this sector posted its third-sharpest drop since June 2008, when employment peaked.