Unemployment rate expected to remain steady in March report

Friday’s jobs report could show that the economy added more than 200,000 jobs for the fourth straight month, as the labor market makes a more sustained recovery.

The unemployment rate, however, is expected to remain steady, at 8.3 percent — the third month in a row at that level.

{mosads}The Labor Department report, due out later Friday morning, is expected to show that employers added 210,000 jobs in March.

Another solid month of jobs growth would mean that the economy has added nearly 1 million jobs since hiring picked up pace in December, the best streak in more than a decade.

That could be good news for President Obama and his reelection effort, as the economy remains the top concern for voters.

But the growing workforce could actually keep the unemployment rate steady as unemployed workers who had given up searching for jobs re-enter the market on the back of the positive reports.

Nearly 13 million people remain unemployed, and that provides a complication for Obama, especially if the jobless rate remains high.

“Let’s not lose sight of the current reality: far too many men and women who want to work still cannot find good jobs,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a Thursday statement.

“Their reality, as they search for work, is struggling to pay bills, do something a little extra for the holidays, afford college for their kids and simply get by,” he said.

Some economists are predicting the rate could drop below 8 percent before the November election — an important benchmark as some analysts have predicted Obama would lose reelection if the rate remains above 8 percent.

A separate report on Wednesday showed that the private sector added 209,000 jobs in March, according to ADP.

In addition to the March figures, ADP, a private-sector payroll processor, also said January and February jobs numbers were more robust than originally reported, a similar trend with the government figures.

While the federal government is open on Friday, stock markets are closed for Good Friday, meaning a delayed, and potentially positive, reaction on Monday.

The economy has been gradually adding jobs since October 2010 — with a solid pick-up since September — despite a slowdown last summer as the economic recovery slowed under the strain of the building European debt crisis.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently told Congress that the decline in the unemployment rate was “somewhat more rapid” than he would have expected, and said the job market is still “far from normal.”