WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy continued to add jobs at a brisk pace in March, bringing the jobless rate down to 3.5% and could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again next month.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that 236,000 non-farm payrolls were created last month in the United States and revised the February figure up to 326,000 from 311,000 initially announced.
This slowdown in hiring in March is partly explained by the attenuation of the positive effect linked to abnormally mild weather during the first two months of the year.
Economists polled by Reuters predicted an average of 239,000 job creations in March, with their estimates ranging between 150,000 and 342,000.
The publication of the employment report, usually closely followed by investors, comes as the financial markets are closed on Friday for the Easter weekend.
The average hourly wage in the United States rose 0.3% last month, after rising 0.2% in February, bringing its year-on-year gain to 4.2%, from 4.3% given by the Reuters consensus.
Wage inflation is still too high to be compatible with the Fed’s target of a 2% price hike.
US central bank officials will have more inflation data available later in the month to gauge the impact of the year-long monetary policy tightening.
According to CME Group’s FedWatch Barometer, investors expect the Fed to raise rates another 25 basis points after its next monetary policy meeting on May 2-3.
(Report Lucia Mutikani, Blandine Hénault for the )
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