Unemployment at 30-year low

Friday, May 5, 2000 | 11:58 a.m.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in April from 4.1 percent in March, marking the first time in 30 years the rate was below 4 percent.

Today's report by the Labor Department provided more motivation for the Federal Reserve to aggressively raise interest rates later this month in order to slow the speeding economy.

The April numbers came as a surprise to Wall Street. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to slip to 4 percent.

The Fed next meets May 16 to set interest rate policy. Many experts expect the Federal Open Market Committee to hike short-term rates by at least another quarter percentage point. Others expect a big half-percentage point increase.

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