Non Farm Payrolls down 80k in March

The NFP numbers for March released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics came in below expectations. What is worse the numbers for February and January were revised lower. The diffusion index is now also below the 50% mark for three month in a row. The last time the 3-month span of this index slipped below the 50 mark was in February of 2001. 50 percent indicates an equal balance between industries with increasing and decreasing employment.




source: Employment Situation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm