The U.S. economy added 110,000 new jobs in March, far fewer than expected, the Labour Department said Friday. The economy had added 243,000 jobs in February and a similar increase had been forecast for March. Experts attributed the sluggish job growth to the high cost of oil and other raw materials, which they said drained employers' resources that could have been used to add to their payrolls. The job gain in March was the lowest since July. A separate report showed that the unemployment rate dipped to 5.2 per cent in March from 5.4 per cent in February as the number of people who said they were looking for jobs last month declined. Experts said the employment reports could mean that the Federal Reserve will continue to increase interest rates at a "measured rate" instead of increasing them more rapidly. President George W. Bush's administration also put a bright face on the reports. "The economy has had 22 straight months of job growth and more Americans are working than ever before; 3.1 million jobs have been created since the uptick in job growth began in June 2003," Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said. --SP 2208 Local Time 1908 GMT
