Jobs Report Is Much Better Than Expected

American employers added a surprisingly strong 178,000 new jobs last month, rebounding from a dismal February. And the unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%. The Labor Department reported Friday that hiring marked a rebound from the loss of 133,000 jobs in February, the AP reports. The February loss was revised up from 92,000. The job gains were about three times what economists had forecast. The unemployment rate was down from 4.4% in February. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had expected the Labor Department to report that companies, government agencies, and nonprofits added only around 60,000 jobs last month.

The US job market has been in a slump over the past year as companies have been hesitant to hire because of high interest rates, along with uncertainty over President Trump's policies and how artificial intelligence is going to affect their businesses. The war in Iran has clouded the outlook, and most economists say the impact of the war and higher energy prices were probably not fully reflected in the March jobs numbers.

• "Job gains occurred in health care, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing," the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. "Federal government employment continued to decline." The New York Times reports that 90,000 of the job gains occurred in health care, partly reflecting the return of 32,000 striking nurses, though there were also solid gains in manufacturing and hospitality.