The employment report was just a little worse than expected with data showing a loss of 663,000 payroll jobs in March — the 15th consecutive month-to-month decline in payroll jobs, the fifth straight month in which payrolls have dropped by 600,000-plus jobs. The unemployment rate increased to 8.5% and both inspired the expected round of superlatives and comparatives.

As the downturn eats into companies’ sales and profits, they are laying off workers and resorting to other cost-saving survival measures that also hit employees, the report showed. Those include holding down hours and freezing or cutting pay.