Late last month, we discussed slightly encouraging reports showing that unemployment may be starting to turn around.

But now we see that bankruptcy filings are rising again.

“More Americans filed for bankruptcy protection in March than during any month since the federal personal bankruptcy law was tightened in October 2005, a new report says, a result of high unemployment and the housing crash,” says an April 1 piece in The New York Times.

This statistic is mind boggling! Federal courts reported 158,000 bankruptcy filings in March. That amounts to 6,900 per day and a rise of 35% from February, as stated by Aacer, a court electronic records data collection agency.

High unemployment and a weak residential real estate market caused a five-year high in personal bankruptcties in March, according to a report in the New York Times.

The Times information comes from a new report by data collection company Aacer.

More people are filing for bankruptcy than any time since the recession began. And some filers are deciding to walk away from their deeply underwater homes through bankruptcy. Kai Ryssdal talks to reporter Mitchell Hartman about what's behind the increase.

More Americans filed for bankruptcy protection in March than during any month since the federal personal bankruptcy law was tightened in October 2005, a new report says, a result of high unemployment and the housing crash.

Federal courts reported over 158,000 bankruptcy filings in March, or 6,900 a day, a rise of 35 percent from February, according to a report to be released on Friday by Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a data collection company known as Aacer. Filings were up 19 percent over March 2009.