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AnonymousInactiveSMALLEST JOB GAIN IN EIGHT MONTHS
WASHINGTON (April 05) –
Payroll growth across the country was sluggish in March as employers added just
110,000 jobs, the smallest increase since July.
The new figures, released by the Labor Department Friday,
offered another mixed picture of America’s hiring climate. The job market has
been the sector of the economy that has been among the slowest to recover from
the last recession.Payroll growth, as measured by a survey of businesses,
slowed in March. Job losses at factories and in the retail sector tempered gains
in professional and business services, construction, education and health
services and in other industries.The 110,000 jobs added in March marked the smallest gain
since last July, when payrolls grew by a tepid 83,000. March’s payroll gain was
half of the roughly 220,000 jobs that economists had forecast before the report
was released. Job gains for February, meanwhile, were revised slightly downward
to 243,000 from the initial 262,000 reported a month ago.The civilian U.S. unemployment rate is calculated from a
separate statistical survey than the payroll figures. The two statistical
methods often can – and do – offer seemingly conflicting pictures of what is
happening in the labor market.The seasonally adjusted overall civilian unemployment rate
dropped to 5.2 percent in March from 5.4 percent in February. The household
survey showed that 357,000 people said they found employment last month,
outpacing the number of people who couldn’t find work. Thus, the fractional
decrease in the overall jobless rate.Analysts believe the economy in the first three months of
2005 grew at an annual rate of 4 percent or higher, according to some
projections. Economic growth probably will slow a bit in the current
April-to-June quarter but should still remain at a healthy pace to spur decent
job gains in the months ahead, they said.Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues,
meeting last week, said “labor market conditions continue to improve
gradually.”President Bush – who was dogged with questions about the
health of the job market throughout his first term in office – wants to see the
labor market and the overall economy thriving as he seeks to sell the American
public and politicians a revamp of the Depression era Social Security
program.Fed policy-makers are feeling upbeat about the economy’s
growth, yet are concerned about a potential pickup in inflation. They boosted
interest rates last week for the seventh time since June 2004. An additional
increase to hold inflation in check is expected at the Fed’s next meeting, on
May 3.Workers’ average hourly earnings rose in March to $15.95, a
0.3 percent increase from the previous month, slightly higher than economists
were forecasting.For jobseekers it is still a difficult climate. There were
7.7 million people unemployed in March with the average duration of 19.5 weeks
without work, the highest since November.The share of the working-age population working or actively
seeking a job in March continued to hold steady at 65.8 percent, a nearly
17-year low first reached in January. -
AuthorApril 3, 2005 at 12:43 PM
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