Fears of a cooling U.S. economy may ease a bit after payroll numbers for March came in above analysts’ forecasts, rising to 196,000. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers out Friday showed the jobless rate unchanged at 3.8 percent—holding at a near five-decade low—while average hourly earnings increased 3.2 percent from the previous year. But it’s the payroll numbers that are most encouraging, beating Bloomberg’s median estimate of an increase of 177,000 by almost 20,000. Most payroll gains reportedly came from the education and health services, as well as professional and business services.
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