U.S. March Payroll Gains Top WSJ's Typical Forecast Error Band

The U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in March, surpassing the historical forecast-error range compiled by The Wall Street Journal. The unemployment rate came in at 4.3%, remaining within that range. Employment figures are closely watched by investors and economists for clues on the Federal Reserve's next interest-rate move and to gauge how quickly the labor market is cooling. Over the past decade, the typical gap between The Wall Street Journal's survey forecasts and the final payroll print has ranged from -38,500 to +73,000 for March reports. Friday's 178,000 increase also exceeded the 59,000 median estimate from economists polled by the publication. The unemployment rate's slight decline stayed within its historical deviation band of -0.2 to +0.1 percentage points. (Jin10)