Investing.com - Nonfarm payrolls (NFP) rose by 103,000 in March, according to official data released on Friday.
The data was lower than the consensus estimate for the creation of 193,000 jobs and below the 241,000 positions that the ADP report indicated on Wednesday.
The previous month’s reading of NFP was revised to 326,000 from the 313,000 registered initially.
The jobless rate held steady at 4.1%, missing expectations for a further drop to 4.0%.
Average hourly earnings advanced 0.3% month-on-month in March, matching forecasts. That was higher than the 0.1% advance seen a month earlier.
On an annualized basis, wage inflation grew 2.7% in March, higher than the 2.6% gain seen in the previous month. March’s reading matched expectations.
The increase in wages is being closely monitored by the Federal Reserve for evidence of diminishing slack in the labor market and upward pressure on inflation. Economists generally consider an increase of 3.0% or more to be consistent with rising inflation.
Additionally, the private sector created fewer new job contracts than expected in March with a total of 102,000.
Analysts had forecast the creation of 190,000 new jobs.
February’s number was revised to an increase of 320,000 private nonfarm payrolls, from the prior reading of 287,000 jobs in the private sector.
Government payrolls increased by 1,000 last month.
In February, 6,000 government jobs were created which was a downward revision from the initial reading of the creation of 26,000 public positions.
The participation rate decreased to 62.9% in March, from the prior month’s reading of 63.0%.
The U-6 unemployment rate, that includes those workers who are working part-time for purely economic reasons, fell to 8.0% in March from the prior 8.2%.
Furthermore, the average weekly hours held steady at 34.5 in March, in line with expectations.