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Jobs sink, bonds soar
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April 3, 1998: 12:17 p.m. ET
U.S. sheds 36,000 nonfarm payroll jobs; unemployment rate rises to 4.7 percent
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Bond prices shot higher Friday morning after a report showed U.S. job creation in March fell unexpectedly for the first time in two years due to slumping retail trade and construction activity.
There were 36,000 fewer nonfarm payroll jobs in the United States last month, after a revised gain of 252,000 in February.
The nation's unemployment rate edged up by 0.1 percent to 4.7 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday.
Wall Street economists had expected the economy to add 250,000 jobs and the jobless rate to remain unchanged at 4.6 percent.
The bond market took its cues from the report, which suggests inflationary pressures are on the wane. The 30-year Treasury bond rose 1-1/32 points in price, as the yield, which moves in the opposite direction, sank to 5.77 percent.
Among the reasons for the weaker-than-expected jobs report: earlier-than-usual construction activity because of the nation's warm winter. As a result, employers have more recently been less pressed to hire. In March, the number of jobs in goods-related construction fell by 88,000.
"We knew jobs were front-end loaded because of the weather," said Robert Brusca, an economist with Nikko Securities. "Even so, this is dramatic."
Retailing was another weak sector, with employment dropping by 48,000 in March as seasonal hiring in restaurants fell from its usual pace and employment in clothing stores shrank for the second straight month.
Job gains in the service-sector, a total of 45,000, were the slowest since August last year and as were unable to offset the tumble elsewhere.
Total employment was essentially unchanged in March with a total of 131 million Americans employed.
The news comes at a time the nation is enjoying its lowest level of unemployment in a generation, with the jobless rate at 4.7 percent or lower for the past 12 months. 
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