Further jump in US unemployment

The US Postal Service is among the employers that has cut jobs recently

The number of people employed in the US fell by 663,000 in March, according to figures from the Department of Labor.

The jobless rate rose to 8.5% from February's figure of 8.1%, meaning it is still at its highest since 1983.

It means that since the recession began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, 3.3 million of them in the past five months.