US adds 143,000 jobs in March in sign of economic health

Hiring remains robust; country's unemployment rate is 3.6%, the lowest since the pandemic arrived

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National News

April 1, 2022 - 5:39 PM

In Chicago's Greektown neighborhood, a worker brings food to diners at the restaurant Athena. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

America’s employers extended a streak of robust hiring in March, adding 431,000 jobs in a sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of a still-destructive pandemic, Russia’s war against Ukraine and the highest inflation in 40 years.

The government’s report Friday showed that last month’s job growth helped shrink the unemployment rate to 3.6%. That’s the lowest rate since the pandemic erupted two years ago and just above the half-century low of 3.5% that was reached two years ago.

Despite the inflation surge, persistent supply bottlenecks, damage from COVID-19 and now a war in Europe, employers have added at least 400,000 jobs for 11 straight months. In its report, the government also sharply revised up its estimate of hiring in January and February by a combined 95,000 jobs.

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