IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
The U.S. job market went flat in March, as the economy added only 126,000 jobs while the unemployment rate was static.
That was the lowest number of jobs added in a month since December 2013, ending a streak of 12 consecutive months of 200,000-plus job gains, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The national unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.5 percent.
Manufacturing and construction each lost 1,000 jobs, ending hiring streaks of 19 and 15 months respectively in those sectors. Hiring at restaurants also dropped, according to the bureau’s monthly report on the U.S. job market.
Besides the sluggish March jobs report, the first two months of the year turned out to be not as good as first reported. The bureau revised downward its previously estimated job growth for January and February by 69,000.
Wage growth was also modest last month, as average hourly wages rose seven cents to $24.86 an hour. That was a year-over-year wage increase of only 2.1 percent, the bureau reported.
The percentage of people who are either working or looking for work fell to 62.7 percent last month. That equaled the lowest rate recorded in that category since 1978, according to the bureau.
