Companies Add Jobs, but Unemployment Up

Companies Add Jobs, but Unemployment Up
By LEIGH STROPE
AP Labor Writer
7:28 AM PST, April 2, 2004

WASHINGTON ?- The nation's employers added 308,000 new jobs in March, hiring at the fastest pace in four years and providing long-awaited evidence the weak jobs market may be gaining steam.

At the same time, the civilian unemployment rate bumped up to 5.7 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.

In a separate survey of companies, the figures showed widespread hiring in industries across the economy at a time when President Bush's re-election campaign, counting heavily on a pickup in the jobs market, jumped into high gear.

For the first time in 44 months, the nation's factories did not shed jobs. But they weren't hiring either. March's figures show zero gains and losses for manufacturers hammered by the economic downturn that began three years ago. The only sector losing jobs last month was information services, where companies cut about 1,000 jobs.

Revisions to payrolls showed a stronger jobs market than previously thought. Companies added 205,000 jobs in January and February, instead of the 118,000 reported last month.

"I'm not saying the labor markets are back where they need to be, but this latest job advance together with the positive revisions are making this look like a normal recovery," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

The jobless rate, compiled in a separate survey of households, inched up by 0.1 percentage point from 5.6 percent in February. That's because more job seekers renewed their searches last month, but were unsuccessful.

The health of the nation's economy, especially the job climate, is a major issue in this year's presidential race. The economy has lost almost 2 million jobs since Bush took office in January 2001.

President Bush is promoting his message of an improving economy Friday in West Virginia, a state he narrowly won in 2000 and where Democrats are taking him to task for lost jobs.

Friday's report "is more evidence the economy has turned the corner and the nation's job market is getting stronger every month," said Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

But for out-of-work Americans, the economic rebound has been frustratingly slow. In March, there were 8.35 million people unemployed, compared with 8.17 million the previous month. The average duration of unemployment has been more than 20 weeks, a 20-year high.

"The president and administration officials are expressing pride in the fact that the economy has finally started to create some jobs, but on the third anniversary of the Bush jobs slump, we are still in a deep hole," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., top Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee. "We can't really talk about a jobs recovery until we see robust job creation for several months."

Jobless workers are increasingly accepting part-time work. The number of people who worked part time for economic reasons rose to 4.7 million in March, up from 4.4 million the previous month.

Construction employment rose by 71,000 in March following a decline the previous month. The industry has added 201,000 jobs in the past year.

Retailers added 47,000 jobs last month, led by the striking California grocery workers agreeing to a new contract and returning to work.

Employment in health care and social services increased by 36,000 in March, with the industry gaining 255,000 jobs in the past year. Professional and business services added 42,000 jobs, and in the leisure and hospitality sector, payrolls rose by 27,000.

Transportation and warehousing, utilities and government also added jobs last month.