For all those still acting like Chicken Little...
Employment grew solidly in March; jobless rate declined
U.S. businesses added 216,000 jobs last month; unemployment rate at two-year low
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy posted a second straight month of solid gains in March as the nation’s jobless rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent, marking a decisive shift in the labor market that should help to underpin the economic recovery.
Businesses created 216,000 jobs last month, according to the Labor Department’s latest employment report, after adding 192,000 jobs in February. The past two months mark the fastest two-month pace of job creation since before the recession began. Factories, retailers, education, health care and an array of professional and financial services expanded payrolls.
Private employers, the backbone of the economy, drove nearly all of the March job gains. They added 230,000 jobs last month, on top of 240,000 in February. It was the first time private hiring topped 200,000 in back-to-back months since 2006 — more than a year before the recession started.
The unemployment rate dipped from 8.9 percent in February to 8.8 percent in March. The rate has fallen a full percentage point over the last four months, the sharpest drop since 1983.
It could start rising as the improving employment picture coaxes those who have given up the search for work to re-enter the labor market.
“It is always possible that as the job market improves, people will start looking again and the unemployment rate could go up,” said John Hancock's Cheney. “But the normal pattern is once it starts coming down as rapidly as it has over the last few months, it keeps on going down.”
The jobless rate is one of the factors that could determine the timing of the Fed's first interest rate hike since it cut overnight lending rates to near zero in December 2008.
The central bank last month described the labor market as improving gradually and dropped a reference it had used in a statement in January to employers remaining reluctant to add to payrolls.
The economy has recovered a fraction of the more than 8 million jobs lost in the recession. Economists say job growth of between 250,000 and 300,000 a month is needed to have a sizable impact on the pool of 13.7 million unemployed Americans.
That will probably keep the Fed sidelined for a while.
“Even if we have an acceleration in the pace of job growth, there still remains significant slack in the labor market,” said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.
“Given the high levels of unemployment and the fact that the duration of unemployment is still unacceptably high, the Fed will remain on the sidelines at least for the next year before they start contemplating tightening monetary policy explicitly.”
The Fed is expected to complete its $600 billion government bond-buying program, which ends in June.
Employment grew solidly in March; jobless rate declined
U.S. businesses added 216,000 jobs last month; unemployment rate at two-year low
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy posted a second straight month of solid gains in March as the nation’s jobless rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent, marking a decisive shift in the labor market that should help to underpin the economic recovery.
Businesses created 216,000 jobs last month, according to the Labor Department’s latest employment report, after adding 192,000 jobs in February. The past two months mark the fastest two-month pace of job creation since before the recession began. Factories, retailers, education, health care and an array of professional and financial services expanded payrolls.
Private employers, the backbone of the economy, drove nearly all of the March job gains. They added 230,000 jobs last month, on top of 240,000 in February. It was the first time private hiring topped 200,000 in back-to-back months since 2006 — more than a year before the recession started.
The unemployment rate dipped from 8.9 percent in February to 8.8 percent in March. The rate has fallen a full percentage point over the last four months, the sharpest drop since 1983.
It could start rising as the improving employment picture coaxes those who have given up the search for work to re-enter the labor market.
“It is always possible that as the job market improves, people will start looking again and the unemployment rate could go up,” said John Hancock's Cheney. “But the normal pattern is once it starts coming down as rapidly as it has over the last few months, it keeps on going down.”
The jobless rate is one of the factors that could determine the timing of the Fed's first interest rate hike since it cut overnight lending rates to near zero in December 2008.
The central bank last month described the labor market as improving gradually and dropped a reference it had used in a statement in January to employers remaining reluctant to add to payrolls.
The economy has recovered a fraction of the more than 8 million jobs lost in the recession. Economists say job growth of between 250,000 and 300,000 a month is needed to have a sizable impact on the pool of 13.7 million unemployed Americans.
That will probably keep the Fed sidelined for a while.
“Even if we have an acceleration in the pace of job growth, there still remains significant slack in the labor market,” said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.
“Given the high levels of unemployment and the fact that the duration of unemployment is still unacceptably high, the Fed will remain on the sidelines at least for the next year before they start contemplating tightening monetary policy explicitly.”
The Fed is expected to complete its $600 billion government bond-buying program, which ends in June.
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