Job growth slowed sharply last month

WASHINGTON — U.S. job growth slowed sharply last month, falling to its lowest level in nearly a year, according to government figures.

Just 98,000 net new jobs were added last month, reflecting, among other things, stalled hiring in construction and another significant decline in retailers’ payrolls, the Labor Department said Friday.

Overall job growth in March was well below the 219,000 figure from the previous month.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.5 percent, its lowest level in nearly a decade. And wages continued to show solid growth. Employers are finding they need to pay more to attract workers in a tightening job market.

On top of that, the totals from January and February were revised down by a combined 38,000 jobs.

The number of people working and the unemployment rate are determined based on a survey of households, while the job-creation figures are calculated from payroll records provided by employers. The two sets of data can provide conflicting views of the labor market.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, DCalif., said the Trump administration needed to start enacting policies to boost job growth instead of just talking about it.

“March’s jobs report should serve as a stern warning to President Trump: Tweeting is not a strategy to create jobs for hard-working American families,” she said.

For the first three months of the year, the economy has added an average of 178,000 jobs a month. That figure is down from the 187,000 monthly average last year.

A Northeastern snowstorm struck during the week that the Labor Department surveyed households about their work status. Analysts had said the strong job creation the previous two months had been boosted by unusually warm weather.