March Payroll Job Losses Could Top 200,000

TrimTabs Investment Research said the U.S. economy lost 78,000 jobs in February, based on daily income tax deposits to the Treasury from salaried taxpayers. This number is higher than estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported 63,000 job losses in the same period.

On Friday, stock markets plunged upon hearing the news.

“According to our data, February's job loss is the fourth monthly job loss in the past five months,” said TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman.

TrimTabs estimates that job losses could continue to soar to 150,000 to 200,000 lost jobs for the month of March, if an eight-day period ending March 5 continues at the same pace.

From October 2007 through February, TrimTabs said the economy has lost 205,000 jobs due to the collapse of the housing market, though the BLS said the economy added 197,000 jobs during the same period.