The March jobs report showed the pace of hiring slowed to the lowest level in more than two years, relieving at least some pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at the next Fed meeting.
Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 236,000 last month, or less than the 239,000 economists had forecast, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Over the past six months, the economy has added an average of 334,000 jobs per month. March's figures are a sign that the Fed's efforts to combat inflation by introducing slack into the squeaky-tight labor market via an aggressive campaign of interest rate hikes might be beginning to have their intended effect.
