By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON – Employers added a robust 216,000 jobs in March as the unemployment rate dipped to 8.8 percent, the government said Friday in a better-than-expected report that showed the U.S. economic recovery is overcoming the headwinds from rising food and fuel prices.
In the best jobs report yet during the skittish recovery, the Labor Department said that private-sector employment actually rose by 230,000 during March. The broader employment numbers were dragged down by a net loss of 14,000 government jobs across the nation.
“The job market is kicking into full gear. Job growth has accelerated to 200,000 per month, which is sufficient to meaningfully bring down unemployment,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for forecaster Moody’s Analytics. “It is also encouraging the job growth is increasingly broad-based across industries. Only state and local governments are laying off workers.”