US job creation came back to life in March, possibly assuaging recession fears and allowing Donald Trump a sigh of relief.
Government data released Friday showed a hiring surge in healthcare, bars and restaurants, while unemployment held steady and worker wages continued to climb.
The return to healthy job creation at the close of the third quarter followed wild results at the start of the year, including an anemic February when employers added just 33,000 net new positions, the slowest in 17 months.
The world's largest economy added 196,000 net new positions for March, well above expectations, while the jobless rate held steady at 3.8 percent, according to the Labor Department.
The broad consensus among economists is that the US economy is slowing as the boost from recent tax cuts and fiscal stimulus fades. But President Trump's administration has forecast that 2019 will be another banner year for growth.
Shortly after the numbers were released, Trump delighted in the news. "Our country is doing unbelievably well," he said.
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Average hourly wages rose four cents for the month, putting them up 3.2 per cent over March of last year, more than twice the pace of consumer inflation over the same period -- but down from February's 3.4 per cent, which had been the highest in a decade but which may have been distorted by weather effects.
This gives workers purchasing power and suggests they will continue to spend despite surprising recent dips in retail sales and consumption.
Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said the numbers were good but "not a game changer."