Washington, D.C. ? Employers are laying off workers at a faster pace despite a few hopeful signs recently that the recession — now the longest since World War II — could be easing.

The Labor Department today is slated to release a report expected to show that a net total of 654,000 jobs were lost last month. That’s more than the population of Baltimore.

If economists are right, it would mark a record four straight months that job losses topped 600,000.

With employers axing payrolls, the nation’s unemployment rate is expected to jump to 8.5 percent, from 8.1 percent in February. If that happens, it would mark the highest jobless rate since late 1983, when the country was recovering from a severe recession that drove unemployment past 10 percent.

As the recession, which started in December 2007, eats into their sales and profits, companies are laying off workers and resorting to other cost-saving measures. Those include holding down hours, and freezing or cutting pay, to survive the storm.

Looking forward, economists expect monthly job losses continuing for most — if not all of — this year.