Although the economy created 162,000 jobs in March, the first significant
increase since the beginning of the recession, the unemployment rate remains
unacceptably high at 9.7%. The number of unemployed rose in March to over 15
million, and the percentage of the unemployed out of work for 27 weeks or
longer increased to 44%, up from 41% in February, a record since the Labor
Department started keeping records in 1948.