U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls employment data released today showed that jobs continued to fall at a very high rate in the U.S. as employment declined by over 600,000 for the fourth month in a row. The Department of Labor nonfarm payrolls 
report showed that U.S. payrolls shed 663,000 jobs in March following a drop of 651,000 jobs in February.
This was the fifteenth straight month that companies have shed workers and the unemployment rate jumped from 8.1 percent to 8.5 percent bringing the rate to its highest standing since 1983.
January’s job decline was revised higher to show a loss of 741,000 jobs which registered the largest fall in employment since 1949. The amount of jobs lost since December 2007 has now totaled 5.1 million according to the Labor Department and 3.3 million of those jobs have been shed in the last five months.
The March Labor Department report just surpassed market forecasts that were expecting a loss of 660,000 jobs and matched forecasts expecting the unemployment rate to reach 8.5 percent.
The decline in jobs was spread throughout most economic sectors with the exception of the education & health services sector which saw 8,000 jobs created in March. The service-providing sector was the hardest hit by job losses for the month as this sector lost 358,000 total jobs with professional & business services shedding 133,000 workers, retail trade cutting 48,000 workers and leisure & hospitality losing 40,000 workers for the month. Government employment also declined by 5,000. The goods-producing sector lost 305,000 jobs for the month as the manufacturing sector cut 161,000 jobs and the construction sector lost 126,000 jobs.
U.S. Dollar mostly lower today in Forex Trading.
The U.S. dollar has been losing ground in forex trading against most of the major currencies after today’s employment report. The dollar has fallen against the euro, Australian dollar, Swiss franc, New Zealand dollar and the British pound while gaining ground versus the Japanese yen.
The euro has advanced in trading versus the dollar from today’s 1.3441 opening at 00:00GMT to trading at approximately 1.3484 in the late afternoon of the US trading session at 4:06pm EST according to currency data by Oanda. The British pound has increased versus the dollar as the GBP/USD has gone from its 1.4722 opening rate to trading at 1.4832 in the U.S. session.
The Australian dollar has gained slightly versus the USD with the AUD/USD trading at 0.7155 after opening today at 0.7151. The New Zealand dollar has also made a small gain versus the US dollar as the NZD/USD trades at 0.5866 after opening the day at the 0.5856 exchange rate.
Against the Swiss franc, the USD has been falling today for the second straight day as the USD/CHF has declined from its 1.1352 opening to trading at 1.1316. The dollar has also declined against the Canadian dollar after the USD/CAD opened at 1.2407 earlier today to trading later at 1.2308.
The dollar has managed to make gains against the Japanese yen as the USD/JPY has climbed from its 99.67 opening to trading at 100.23 later today.
USD/JPY Chart – The US Dollar advancing against the Japanese Yen in Forex Trading today. The Dollar surpassed the 100 yen to the dollar mark and reached its highest trading level against the Yen since early November 2008.
