U.S. economy sheds 663,000 jobs in March

The U.S. economy lost a gargantuan 663,000 jobs in March, the U.S. Labor Department announced Friday, with the nation's unemployment rate jumping to 8.5 percent, the highest rate in more than two decades.

What's more, the nation's economy has now shed more than 5 million jobs since the recession started in December 2007, and an astounding 2.5 million jobs in the last four months.