US firms add fewest jobs since December 2013
Print Edition
THE weakening US economy spilled into the job market in March as employers added only 126,000 jobs, the fewest since December 2013, snapping a streak of 12 straight months of gains above 200,000.
The Labor Department said yesterday the jobless rate remained at 5.5 percent.
Economic growth has been hammered this year by harsh winter weather, factory slowdowns and lackluster construction activity. The manufacturing, construction and government sectors each shed workers, while hiring at restaurants plunged from February.
In addition to reporting the sluggish hiring in March, the government revised down its estimate of job gains in February and January by a combined 69,000.
Wage growth in March remained modest. The average hourly wages rose 7 US cents to US$24.86 an hour.
Past job growth, along with cheaper gasoline, has yet to significantly boost consumer spending. A continued deceleration in hiring could delay the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in mid-year.
The Fed signaled last month that it would be cautious in raising rates from record lows. The Fed has yet to rule out a June rate hike. But many analysts expect the first increase no earlier than September. In part, that’s because Fed officials have revised down the range of unemployment they view as consistent with a healthy economy to 5-5.2 percent from 5.2-5.5 percent previously.
Chair Janet Yellen has stressed that even when the Fed begins raising rates, it will do so only very gradually.
A Fed rate hike would point to stable growth. But the economy has weakened in the first two months of 2015, in part because of the tough winter.
The Atlanta Federal Reserve estimates that growth was flat during the first three months of 2015.
JPMorgan Chase says that growth is tracking at an annual rate of 0.6 percent. Those forecasts are significantly below the annual growth rate of 2.2 percent in the final three months of 2014 and a rate of over 4 percent in the middle of last year.
Factory orders have been mixed, having fallen sharply in January before rising modestly in February. Cheaper oil has led energy firms to halt orders for pipelines and equipment.
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