Washington ? The nation’s unemployment rate rose to 6 percent in April, returning to an eight-year high as employers slashed payrolls even deeper. The economy has lost a half million jobs in the past three months.

The rate was up two-tenths of a percentage point from March, with payrolls falling by 48,000, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The bottom line: Employers are handing out pink slips, not job offers, and that’s not likely to change soon.

“For those who are out of work, finding a job is getting tougher,” said David Rosenberg, chief economist at Merrill Lynch.

April’s job losses were the third in a row, which never occurs outside of recessions, he said, adding that “we now have such a case.” Job cuts were concentrated in manufacturing, airlines and retail.

In April, the number of unemployed workers surged to 8.8 million, with almost 2 million without jobs for 27 weeks or more. The average duration of unemployment shot up to 19.6 weeks — a 20-year high.

With a re-election campaign coming next year, the president wants to do all he can to ensure a healthy job market by then.

He argued for a large tax cut Friday in a speech at a defense plant in Santa Clara, Calif.

“I urge the United States Congress to look at the unemployment numbers that came out today and pass a tax relief plan that will matter, a tax relief plan robust enough so that the people of this country who are looking for work can find a job,” Bush said at United Defense, which makes the armored Bradley Fighting Vehicles that were used extensively in the Iraq war.

Bush wants Congress to pass at least $550 billion in tax cuts, including eliminating taxes on corporate dividends, as a way to jump start the economy.

Even if it passes, unemployment could continue to climb through the summer because any improvements in the economy would take time to trickle down into hiring.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, traveling with Bush in California, said, “Unemployment is a lagging indicator, and Congress must not lag in its responsibility to pass his job and growth package.”

But support for the package is tepid, and Democrats say a better way to stimulate the economy is to extend unemployment benefits a second time. The current extension expires at the end of the month, which will cut off benefits for millions of jobless workers.