Hiring rebounds as U.S. employers adds 196,000 jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring in the United States rebounded in March as U.S. employers added a solid 196,000 jobs, up sharply from February’s scant gain and evidence that many businesses still want to hire despite signs that the economy is slowing.

The unemployment rate remained at 3.8%, near the lowest level in almost 50 years, the Labor Department reported Friday. Wage growth slowed a bit in March, with average hourly pay increasing 3.2% from a year earlier. That was down from February’s year-overyear gain of 3.4%, the best in a decade.

The employment figures reported Friday by the government suggest that February’s anemic job growth — revised to 33,000, from an initial 20,000 — was merely a temporary blip and that businesses are confident the economy remains on a firm footing. Even with the current expansion nearly 10 years old, the U.S. economy remains resilient and is expected to grow at a steady pace this year.

“The labor market continues to shrug off headwinds and chug along,” said Martha Gimbel, director of economic research at job listings website Indeed.

At the same time, the economy is facing several challenges, from cautious consumers to slower growth in business investment to a U.S.-China trade war that is contributing to a weakening global economy.

Investors didn’t react much to the report. The stock market rose modestly in morning trading, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 45 points.

The solid hiring and modest wage figure probably aren’t enough to change the Federal Reserve’s current plans to hold off on additional interest rate hikes, economists said.

Fed officials as recently as December had suggested they could raise rates twice this year. But in March, after financial markets turned volatile and inflation showed signs of slipping, the Fed said it would likely keep rates unchanged this year.

The jobs data “are not strong enough to dislodge the Fed from its current policy path,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a consulting firm.

Yet Ellen Zentner, an economist at Morgan Stanley, also noted that the report provides little reason for the Fed to cut rates.

President Donald Trump, however, urged the Fed to do just that and restore the bondbuying program it used to lower longer-term interest rates earlier this decade in the aftermath of the Great Recession, an approach known as “quantitative easing.”

“Our country’s doing unbelievably well economically,” Trump said.

But he also said Fed policy makers “really slowed us down,” and if they dropped rates and resumed buying bonds, “you would see a rocket ship.”