80,000 Jobs Lost; Democrats Urge Aid Package

The nation’s employers eliminated tens of thousands of jobs for the third month in a row, the government reported Friday, and top Democrats immediately called for new measures to help suffering American workers.

After the early-morning report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that 80,000 jobs had disappeared in March, the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said she would propose a second economic stimulus package. Hers would supplement the $150 billion in tax rebates scheduled to be mailed to millions of Americans beginning next month.

The presidential candidates, already divided over how to alleviate the mortgage and housing crisis, divided again over how to generate jobs and help the unemployed.