WASHINGTON, April 6: An acceleration in US employment growth in March resulted in 180,000 new jobs, the government said on Friday in a sign that the economy is more robust than some had anticipated.

The increase in non-farm payrolls, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, was much stronger that the gain of 135,000 expected on Wall Street.

The Labour Department said the unemployment rate, calculated on a separate survey of households, fell to 4.4 per cent from 4.5 per cent a month earlier. The last time the rate was lower was in May 2001.

Additionally, the agency revised up its estimate for February to show 113,000 new jobs were created instead of 97,000, and for January to 162,000 from 146,000.

“This is a pretty solid report,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James and Associates.

Brown said the data “provides strong support for consumer spending,” which accounts for two-thirds of US economic activity.

The report appears to support the hypothesis of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and others that the world’s biggest economy is able to weather a big slump in housing and will maintain modest growth in 2007.

“It does look like the overall economy is going to improve as the drag from housing wanes,” Brown said.

Nigel Gault, economist at Global Insight, said some of the rise came from a “weather-related swing in construction employment” but that the gains were nonetheless impressive.

“What matters most is that the labour market report serves as a counterweight to the recent bleak reports on business capital equipment spending,” Gault said.

“If businesses were pulling back on both capital spending and hiring, then recession scenarios would gain credibility. But businesses are still hiring, the unemployment rate has fallen again, and earnings growth remains solid.”

John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Securities, said the gains “suggest forward momentum for the economy with better gains in consumer incomes and spending.”

But he said the wage component of the report is “enough to maintain Fed inflation concerns.”

Average hourly wages rose 0.3 per cent in March to $17.22. Earnings have risen 4.0 per cent in the past year.

The average work week rose slightly to 33.9 hours in March from 33.8 in the prior month.—AFP