Nonfarm payrolls boost US job growth
Print Edition
US employers maintained a solid pace of hiring for a second straight month in March, further evidence the economy was shifting into higher gear after being held back by a brutally cold winter.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 192,000 new jobs last month after rising 197,000 in February, the Labor Department said yesterday. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent, as Americans flooded the labor market.
Economists had expected employment to increase 200,000 last month and the unemployment rate to fall one-tenth of a percentage point. The payrolls count for January and February was revised to show 37,000 more jobs created during those months than previously reported. A Labor Department official said harsh weather had a slight impact on hours worked last month.
The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one rose to a six-month high of 63.2 percent from 63 percent in February.
A cold and snowy winter slammed the economy at the end of 2013 and the beginning of this year. Growth was further undercut by efforts by businesses to trim bloated inventories, the expiration of benefits for the long-term unemployed and cuts to food stamps. But data ranging from manufacturing and services sector activity to automobile sales have signaled strength in the economy as the first quarter ended.
The steady pace of job gains should allow the Federal Reserve to continue scaling back its monetary stimulus and keep overnight interest rates near zero for a while.
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