US sees 162,000 new jobs in March; unemployment rate at 9.7%

Updated on: Monday, April 05, 2010

Washington: US saw an addition of 162,000 new jobs in March, the highest gain in almost three years, while the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 per cent last
month.

However, about 48,000 new jobs last month came from the government's temporary hiring for collecting census data.

"Non-farm payroll employment rose by 162,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent for the third month in a row," the US Labor Department said today.

Even though the national economy is expanding at a healthy rate, the employment market continues to remain shaky. The number of new jobs created last month are less than analysts' estimate, which pegged the same at 200,000.

In a statement, the Labor Department said that job gains continued in temporary help services and in health care whereas employment declined in financial activities.

The March employment increase also included 48,000 workers hired by the federal government for Census 2010, it added.

"Of the 15 million unemployed in March, 6.5 million had been jobless for 27 weeks or more, an increase of 414,000 over the month. These long-term unemployed made up 44.1 per cent of all unemployed persons, a record high," Commissioner (Bureau
of Labor Statistics) Keith Hall said.

In March, as many as 21,000 jobs evaporated in financial activities.

Over the last three months, manufacturing sector added 45,000 jobs, with most of the gains in durable goods industries.

"For the first quarter of 2010 as a whole, job growth averaged 54,000 per month. This is a dramatic change from the first quarter of 2009, when average job loss was 753,000 per month," said Christina Romer, Chair of the Presidentâ€™s Council of Economic Advisers, after the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest unemployment figures for the month of March.

"Non farm payroll employment rose by 162,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was 9.7 per cent for the third month in a row," said Keith Hall, Commissioner Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Job gains continued in temporary help services and in health care, while job losses occurred in financial activities and in information. The March employment increase also included 48,000 workers hired by the federal government for Census 2010," Hall said.

Responding to the report of the largest job gains in one month in the past three years, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said this offers optimism that the economic recovery is starting to reach America's workers.

"News that American job losses of nearly 800,000 a month under President Bush are now turning to job gains of 162,000 last month the most jobs added in one month in the past three years is evidence that US businesses are gaining confidence," Pelosi said.

US sees 162,000 new jobs in March; unemployment rate at 9.7%

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