The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 6% in April as companies slashed jobs for the third straight month. The manufacturing, airline and retail sectors were the hardest hit.

April’s jobless rate was up 0.2 percentage point from March, with payrolls falling by 48,000, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The number of job losses was slightly below economists’ expectations, but the rise in the jobless rate was larger than predicted.

The U.S. economy has lost more than half a million jobs in the past three months as the number of unemployed workers surged to 8.8 million.

Nearly 2 million Americans have been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

April’s increase in the jobless rate was caused in part by 680,000 people returning to the labour force.

Factories shed 95,000 jobs in April. These losses were widespread, with notable declines in motor vehicles, fabricated metals and electronics equipment.

Service-sector employers added 25,000 jobs. But continued losses in the airline industry, which dropped 18,000 jobs last month, held down the overall gain.

Department stores cut 34,000 jobs last month, but those losses were partly offset by gains in restaurants and bars.