U.S. Unemployment Rate Reaches 25-Year High of 8.5%

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. unemployment rate jumped in March to the highest level since 1983 as the economy lost 663,000 jobs, threatening to keep spending subdued for months and delay any recovery.

The jobless rate increased to 8.5 percent from 8.1 percent in February, a Labor Department report showed in Washington -- consistent with the forecasts of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Employers have cut a total of about 5.1 million posts since the recession began, the biggest slump in the postwar era.