The U.S. unemployment rate for March increased to 4.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The monthly number compares to the February number of roughly 3.5 percent, as the coronavirus continues to take its toll on the U.S. economy.

The economy shed about 701,000 jobs in March, the report Friday also shows. The March jobless rate does not reflect the number of first-time unemployment insurance claims filed in the past two weeks – about 10 million.

"The changes in these measures reflect the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and efforts to contain it," the Labor bureau said in releasing the report.

The hardest hit industry was leisure-and-hospitality, which lost about 459,000 jobs, mainly in food services and drinking places. Other hard-hit industries included health care and social assistance, professional and business services, retail trade and construction, the report also states.