Ball State economist Michael Hicks says that while the U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs last month, its employment growth has been agonizingly slow.
Despite additional jobs being created, the national unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this morning.
“Today’s job growth numbers reflect a continued slow growth in labor markets,” says Hicks, director of Ball State’s Center for Economic and Business Research. “While the economy added 192,000 jobs, part time employment for economic reasons grew by 225,000 over the last month.
“Job losses in manufacturing portend a continued sluggishness,” he said. “At the same time, one of every six jobs were in temporary help services.”
Hicks also points out that upward revisions in earlier months paint a somewhat better picture as employers also added a combined 37,000 more jobs in February and January than previously estimated.
