Economy Gained Jobs in March, Govt. Says

Two years of devastating job losses for the U.S. economy are over. The Labor Department says the economy grew by 162,000 jobs in March, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 9.7%.

Now for some context. Of the 162,000 new jobs added to the economy in March, 48,000 are temporary census jobs. So net net, it's fair to say true payrolls grew by 114,000. It generally takes 125,000-150,000 new jobs each month just to keep up with population growth.

Slicing up the unemployment data further by race and sex:

* Adult men: 10.0%
* Adult women: 8.0%
* Teenagers: 26.1%
* Whites: 8.8%
* Blacks: 16.5%
* Asians: 7.5%
* Hispanics: 12.6%

Obama will comment on the job numbers at 11:55, when he visits a N.C. maker of components for lithium-ion batteries. - WWR