The U.S. economy saw a reduction in jobs for the first time in 10 years last month, with the unemployment rate increasing, exceeding expectations. The central reason for the big decline is the ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus.

Change in non-farm payrolls in March came at -701,000 against -100,000 expected and +275,000 in February, whereas the unemployment rate in March was 4.4% compared to the 3.8% expected and 3.5% in February.

The data was published by the Department of Labour on Friday.

“March data from the establishment and household surveys broadly reflect some of the early effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the labour market. We cannot precisely quantify the effects of the pandemic on the job market in March. However, it is clear that the decrease in employment and hours and the increase in unemployment can be ascribed to effects of the illness and efforts to contain the virus,” the Department said.

The construction sector and the manufacturing industries lost 29,000 and 18,000 payrolls respectively, but the smaller goods-producing sector experienced a decline of 54,000 payrolls last month.

As a result, paired with the NFP report, the EUR/USD is being traded below the 1.0800 handle. The GBP/USD pair trades at under 1.23 following a decline in UK services PMI.