April 5, 2024 – 7:39 AM PDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers hired far more workers than expected in March and continued to lift wages at a steady clip, suggesting the economy ended the first quarter on solid ground and potentially delaying anticipated Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year.
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The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday also showed the unemployment rate fell to 3.8% last month from 3.9% in February. The decline in the jobless rate reflected a sharp rebound in household employment, which more than absorbed the 469,000 people who joined the labor force.
The U.S. economy is outshining its global peers even though the Fed has raised rates by 525 basis points since March 2022 to dampen inflation. Economists say most businesses locked in lower borrowing costs prior to the U.S. central bank’s…
