Global Financial Market Review

US employers added a modest 103,000 jobs in March after several months of robust gains, though the government's overall jobs report suggests that the labour market remains fundamentally healthy.

The unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent, a 17-year low, for a sixth straight month, the Labor Department said on Friday. Average hourly pay ticked up, climbing 2.7 percent compared with a year earlier.

The government on Friday also revised down its estimate of job growth for January and February by a combined 50,000. Still, over the past six months, employers have added a healthy average of 211,000 jobs a month, evidence that hiring in the US remains solid and the economy on solid footing in its ninth year of recovery from the Great Recession.

Last month's modest job gain may indicate that some employers want to hire more but are struggling to find the workers they need. A separate government report last month showed that there was nearly one open job for every unemployed person, the lowest ratio on records dating back two decades. (AP)