March Unemployment Rate Unchanged At 9.7% [6.5+M Unemployed Over 6 Months-Record High!]
March Unemployment Rate Unchanged At 9.7%
The official U.S. unemployment rate in March remained unchanged at 9.7 percent, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
A total of 162,000 new jobs were created on non-farm payrolls–the biggest one-month jobs gain in the past three years, but still well below what economists were predicting.
Most forecasters had expected about 200,000 new jobs to be created in March. The difference is largely attributable to fewer census workers than expected being hired by the government. But analysts say the numbers also illustrate the slow and wobbly nature of the ongoing economic recovery.
Christina Roemer, chair of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, said the monthly employment report offered evidence of “gradual labor market healing.”
“…[I]t is obvious that the American labor market remains severely distressed,” Roemer said in a statement. “…While this is the most positive jobs report we have had in three years, there will likely be bumps in the road ahead.”
More than 6.5 million Americans have been unemployed for six months or longer–a record high, the data showed.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com
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