U.S. economy added just 126,000 jobs in March

The U.S. economy created just 126,000 jobs in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, while the unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent.

That was well out of line with Wall Street economists' expectations, who had predicted 245,000 nonfarm payrolls, and it is significantly down from February's 295,000 added jobs.

Not all of this week's numbers were quite so disappointing, The New York Times notes: The Labor Department announced this week that unemployment claims fell to a 15-year low, with 268,000 Americans filing for unemployment last week. And wages for private-sector workers rose by 0.3 percent in March, up from the slight 0.1 percent increase in February.

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