Unemployment Rate Remains Unchanged

WASHINGTON, DC-The official US unemployment rate did not change from last months level, posting for March at 9.7%, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There is debate whether this rate, plus underlying numbers bode well or not for the economy. The Labor Department, noted that a total of 162,000 new jobs were created–the largest one-month jobs gain in the past three years. Some economists, though, had been expecting more jobs – to the order of 200,000–to be created, according to news accounts.

There is a definite case to be made that the numbers represent movement for the economy, argues Peter Cohan of Peter Cohan & Associates. “I think people expected that all the jobs that would be created would be Census takers and it looks like there have been some actual, permanent jobs created,” he tells GlobeSt.com.

It is too early to say the economy has moved into the so-called virtuous cycle, where hires are made, money into the economy increases and creates more demand which in turn leads to more jobs to satisfy the demand, he adds. “But things are more positive than last year, that is for certain.”

In a blog post, Cohan noted that the markets for stock futures and bonds appeared to react positively to the news. The stock markets are closed for Good Friday, but “the increases in interest rates and stock futures were small but noticeable,” he said.