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Unemployment Rate Rises to 6 Percent in April (washingtonpost.com) The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 6 percent in April - its highest rate in four months - as companies slashed manufacturing, airline and retail jobs.

Last month's jobless rate was up two-tenths of a percentage point from March, with payrolls falling by 48,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists had expected payrolls to fall by 60,000 last month.

The economy has lost more than half a million jobs in the past three months as the number of unemployed workers surged to 8.8 million. Nearly 2 million people have been jobless for 27 weeks or more.