Huge Job Losses Set Off Recession Alarms

Friday April 4, 4:42 pm ET
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer Biggest Job Loss in 5 Years Sets Off Recession Alarms; Nearly Quarter-Million Gone in 3 Months WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's no longer a question of recession or not. Now it's how deep and how long.

Workers' pink slips stacked ever higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the most in five years, and the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent. Job losses are nearing the staggering level of a quarter-million this year in just three months.

For the third month in a row total U.S. employment rolls shrank -- often a telltale sign that the economy has jolted dangerously into reverse.