Unemployment

Unemployment Rate Rises to 8.1% 

Non-farm payroll employment contracted by 651,000 in February, effectively pushing unemployment to 8.1 percent from 7.6 percent he previous month, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor. The economy has shed a total 2.6 million paid, non-farm jobs in the past four months alone, according to the payroll data. The employed sector of the population shrank by about 5 million during the past 12 months, while the unemployment rate has risen by 3.3 percentage points.