LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
NPRs business news starts with unemployment topping 8 percent.
The nations unemployment rate is now 8.1 percent. Thats the highest since 1983. In its latest monthly report, the Labor Department said employers cut about 650,000 jobs in February. The steady stream of job losses has turned into a deluge of nearly 4.5 million jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007. More than half were lost in the last four months.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
So well be watching to see how U.S. markets respond to those numbers. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.