The slow motion train wreck continues.

Via CNS News:

A record 89,967,000 Americans were not in the labor force in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is an increase of 663,000 from the 89,304,000 Americans who were not in the labor force in February.

The BLS counts a person as not in the civilian labor force if they are at least 16 years old, are not in the military or an institution such as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home, and have not actively looked for a job in the last four weeks. The department counts a person as in “the civilian labor force” if they are at least 16, are not in the military or an institution such as a prison, mental hospital or nursing home, and either do have a job or have actively looked for one in the last four weeks.

The number of people that BLS considers “in the labor force” effects the unemployment rate–which is the percentage of people “in the labor force” who were unable to find a job during the month.

Via WSJ:

The U.S. economy added fewer jobs in March, a sign of weaker growth heading into the spring.

nth, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households, fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 7.6%.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected that nonfarm payrolls would rise by 200,000 and the unemployment rate would hold steady at 7.7%

Offsetting some of March’s weakness, February payrolls were revised up to a gain of 268,000 from the originally reported 236,000, while January was revised to a gain of 148,000 from the previously reported 119,000.