April 8, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1427

WASHINGTON, April 7: The US economy created 211,000 more jobs in March, according to a government report on Friday that President George W. Bush said revealed an “economic resurgence”.

The “non-farm payrolls” figure given by the Labour Department, while down from a revised 225,000 in February, was well ahead of Wall Street’s forecast for 190,000 extra jobs in March.

The jobless rate fell to a five-year low of 4.7 per cent in March, from 4.8 per cent in February, the department said.

Bush, who is trying to highlight the country’s robust economic growth as his poll ratings slump, said the report showed the world’s biggest economy had now added jobs for 31 months in a row.

“These millions of new jobs are evidence of an economic resurgence that is strong, broad and benefiting all Americans,” he said in televised remarks from the White House.

Bush said the data were the product of hard work by Americans and “pro-growth economic policies”, such as multi-billion-dollar tax cuts pushed through early in his administration in the teeth of Democratic opposition.

“Tax relief has done exactly what it was designed to do. It’s created jobs and growth for the American people. Yet some are now proposing that we raise taxes, either by repealing the tax cuts or letting them expire,” Bush said. Friday’s report showed that inflationary growth in wages was tame, rising 0.2 per cent over March. Average hourly wages are up 3.4 per cent in the past 12 months, down from 3.5 per cent last month, and now stand at $16.49.

The US central bank is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate to 5.0 per cent in May, partly because of tightening “resource utilization” in the labour markets. But further hikes after that are up in the air.—AFP