U.S. employers added a modest 103,000 jobs in March after several months of robust gains, though the government’s overall jobs report suggests the labor market remains fundamentally healthy.
The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%, a 17-year low, for a sixth straight month, the Labor Department says in a new report released today. Average hourly pay ticked up, climbing 2.7% compared with a year earlier.
The government today also revised down its estimate of job growth for January and February by a combined 50,000. Still, over the past six months, employers have added a healthy average of 211,000 jobs a month, evidence that hiring in the United States remains solid and the economy continues on solid footing in its ninth year of recovery from the Great Recession.
