Economy adds 192,000 jobs; unemployment rate holds steady at 6.7%

[USA LaoTu Support Team]

By Don Lee This post has been corrected. See the note below for details.
April 4, 2014, 6:13 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economy added a fairly solid number of new jobs in March as employers reverted to their average pace of hiring after the unusually harsh winter weather.

The Labor Department said Friday that the economy created a net 192,000 new jobs last month, just about as many as in February and the average for all of last year. Economists had forecast job growth of about 200,000 for last month.

The nation's jobless rate held steady at 6.7% in March, but the broader measure of unemployment and underemployment, including part-time workers who want full-time jobs, edged up to 12.7%.

Labor Department officials revised up the job-growth numbers for the prior two months -- to 197,000 for February, from 175,000 previously estimated; and to 144,000 for January, from an initial tally of 129,000.

With those changes, the economy added an average of 178,000 jobs in the first quarter. That is down from the 194,000 average for last year, but analysts expect job growth to pick up some as employers step up hiring after delays caused by the cold weather across the much of the nation.

Job growth last month was led by business services, which boosted payrolls by 57,000. Half of those gains were at temporary-help firms, another sign that stronger hiring may be in store this spring.

The construction industry added 19,000 jobs, about the same as in February, but hiring in manufacturing was lackluster.

Retail trade rebounded by adding 21,300 jobs, and restaurants continued to hire aggressively last month. Government payrolls were flat.

The length of the average workweek, meanwhile, rose to 34.5 last month from 34.3 in February, the likely result of workers' hours being restored after being cut by the cold weather.

Average hourly earnings for private-sector employees fell by a penny, to $24.30. Compared with a year ago, earnings were up 2.1%, a little more than the rate of inflation.

[For The Record, 6:17 a.m.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-march-jobs-20140404,0,4933651.story#ixzz2xvhGCFiS

[USA LaoTu Support Team]

http://news.sina.com   2014年04月04日 14:08   中國新聞網

　　中新社紐約4月4日電 (記者 阮煜琳)隨着氣溫的上升，美國就業市場也在逐步回暖。3月美國新增就業崗位19.2萬個，失業率為6.7%。分析認為，這表明美國經濟在因寒冷天氣減速后已開始提速。

　　美國勞工部4日發布的數據顯示，今年3月美國非農部門新增就業崗位19.2萬個，略低於此前經濟學家普遍預期的20萬，失業率為6.7%，與2月持平。

　　令人欣喜的是，今年1月份和2月份的非農部門新增就業數據被大幅向上修正。今年前兩個月非農部門新增就業崗位向上修正了3.7萬個。

　　3月份，美國進入勞動力市場的人口有所增加，美國成年人口的勞動參與率增至63.2%，為去年9月份以來的最高水平。

　　在一個漫長嚴酷的冬天之后，美國企業雇佣人數有所增加。而且數據經過修正后，2月份，美國新增就業崗位從最初的17.5萬升至19.7萬，1月份新增就業崗位由最初的12.9萬增至14.4萬，表明美國就業市場正在穩步回暖。

　　今年一季度，美國新增就業崗位月度平均為17.8萬個，低於2013年同期每月增加19.8萬個的增長幅度。但現在美國的失業率已從2012年3月的8.2%回落至6.7%，從今年開始，美國聯邦儲備委員會正逐漸小步退出刺激政策。

　　美聯儲一直在密切觀察全國的就業狀況，並將其視為衡量經濟健康狀況的重要指標之一。分析人士認為，即使未來幾個月經濟按預期發展，美聯儲仍將逐步縮減購債規模，但失業率如果維持在6.5%-7%之間，央行短期內加息的可能性不大。

　　3月份，美國就業市場的增長完全來自私營部門，政府的就業崗位沒有增加。3月，企業服務部門新增就業崗位5.7萬個，建築行業新增就業崗位1.9萬個，製造業雇佣人數有所下降。(完)