The US unemployment rate fell in March to 4.5 percent, its lowest level in nearly 10 years, but job creation tumbled unexpectedly, government data showed Friday.
After months of pumping out new jobs at a steady clip, the world’s largest economy added only 98,000 net new positions last month, the Labor Department reported — a figure far below analyst expectations.
Central bank policymakers have been split over the amount of slack in labor markets and the dangers of inflation.
March’s contrasting figures could support the views of some Federal Reserve members who say the United States is at or near full employment.
The monthly job creation figure was nevertheless the weakest since May 2016 and blunted the surging numbers seen in January and February, when unseasonably warm weather helped push job creation well above the 200,000 mark.
Analysts were expecting a far smaller dip in job creation to 180,000 net new positions, on the back of the public sector hiring freeze put in place by the government of US President Donald Trump and March’s powerful northeast storm.
With March’s result, the monthly average for the first quarter fell to 178,000.
However, amid falling unemployment, hourly wages forged higher, adding 0.2 percent over February in another sign of a tightening labor market.
Having campaigned on an “America First” agenda of economic nationalism and revival of manufacturing, Trump has pledged to create 25 million new jobs over 10 years and return the US to annual growth of as much as four percent — goals economists say are unrealistic.
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