More jobs, but not enough

The economy added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began, but the total still was below many analysts’ expectation of around 200,000. The Labor Department said the total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, which means the private economy added about 123,000 jobs, the most since May 2007. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.7 percent. Job creation isn’t increasing enough to keep up with the growth in the potential labor force, which is why the  jobless rate is the same. Experts said the figures suggest the economic recovery is sustained but not particularly robust. That’s not great news for the White House or Democratic candidates, whose election prospects probably will be directly correlated to the monthly jobs report from now until November.