Only 120,000 jobs added in March, missing economic expectations

The economy added 120,000 jobs in March, well below what economists had predicted, while the unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 8.2 percent.

The number is nearly half the 210,000 expected and ends the streak of three straight months in which the economy added more than 200,000 jobs, according to a Labor Department report released Friday.

{mosads}The news isn’t what the White House would want to see just as the labor market seemed to be improving at a faster pace.

With the economy remaining a top issue for voters, any perception that its growth is slowing down could hurt President Obama’s reelection effort.

Republicans immediately pounced on the news, attacking Obama’s economic policies.

Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, used the numbers to criticize the president.

“This is a weak and very troubling jobs report that shows the employment market remains stagnant,” Romney said in a statement. “Millions of Americans are paying a high price for President Obama’s economic policies, and more and more people are growing so discouraged that they are dropping out of the labor force altogether. It is increasingly clear the Obama economy is not working and that after three years in office the President’s excuses have run out.”

The GOP leadership echoed Romney’s criticism.

“Today’s report shows that families and small businesses are still struggling to get by because of President Obama’s failed economic policies,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement.

“The level of growth we are seeing isn’t enough to make a difference for the millions of Americans still out of work or families facing high gas prices and the uncertainty of a lagging economy,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in a statement. Cantor joined Obama at the White House on Thursday for the signing of the GOP-generated JOBS Act, which aims to help small business get credit or go public.  

Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, kept a positive note in a blog posting to the White House website.

“There is more work to be done, but today’s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” he wrote.

“The president’s Budget proposal to increase and modernize the nation’s infrastructure is well targeted to support the economy today and in the future.”

Speaking on MSNBC Friday morning, Krueger said that March’s job gains “adds to picture that economy is continuing to heal” but he acknowledged that there is still “a lot of work to do.”

The 120,000 jobs gained in March is the fewest in five months — there were 112,000 in October and 157,000 in November before a spike in the growth.

But the unemployment rate dropped from February’s 8.3 percent to 8.2 percent as more people stopped looking for work.

Private-sector employment grew by 121,000 in March, including gains in manufacturing, food services and restaurants and healthcare, while retail jobs were lost. Government employment was essentially unchanged.

Manufacturing employment was up by 37,000 in March, representing an increase of 470,000 factory jobs since a recent low point in January 2010.

Within leisure and hospitality, 37,000 jobs were added last month and the sector has added 563,000 since a recent low point in February 2010.

Meanwhile, January jobs figures were revised slightly downward to 275,000 from 284,000, while February figures got a boost to 240,000 from 227,000.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said 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.”

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said he isn’t reading too much in the weakness, especially in retail, where the data is “inconsistent with what we know.”

“I’m suspicious of the number,” he said Friday on MSNBC.

While Zandi called the jobs numbers “disappointing” he said he expects that revisions down the road would show that job growth is stronger than Friday’s report.

Retailers shed nearly 34,000 jobs in March.

Public-sector job losses were flat; Zandi estimates that government job losses are winding down and, while the “worst of it is over,” there will be more jobs shed through the remainder of the year, but losses should end there.

Regardless of the underwhelming March result, the economy has added 858,000 jobs since December, which is the best four months of hiring in two years.

The unemployment rate has been stubbornly high. It was 7.8 percent when Obama took office, eventually reached 10 percent and then began a drop in September from 9.1 percent to 8.2 percent, the lowest level in three years.

If Obama were to win reelection, he would be the first incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt to win reelection with unemployment around 8 percent.

Stock markets are closed for Good Friday, so the traders will have to wait until Monday to react.

—This story was originally posted at 8:42 a.m. and has since been updated.