News release: “Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in March, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Temporary help services and health care continued to add jobs over the month. Employment in federal government also rose, reflecting the hiring of temporary workers for Census 2010. Employment continued to decline in financial activities and in information.”

• Positive job growth, but not enough to reduce unemployment rate, Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute, April 2, 2010: “This morning’s release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report showed 162,000 payroll jobs gained in March, the largest jump in three years. However, of these, 48,000 were directly created by the federal government to assist with the 2010 Decennial Census. Excluding Census hiring, state and local government shed 9,000 jobs, while the private sector added 123,000 jobs. Some of these gains were likely an upward correction to the winter-storm-dampened February payrolls, but the trend since January is positive, with the private sector adding an average of 65,500 jobs per month over the last two months. However, as nearly 400,000 workers entered or re-entered the labor market in March, the increase in payroll jobs was not enough to move the dial on unemployment, which held steady at 9.7%.”
• 3 Takeaways From March’s Unemployment Report, Derek Thompson, The Atlantic Business
• Forbes: Discouraged Workers And The Illusion Of The V-Shaped Jobs Recovery
• Related postings on financial system