By PAUL WISEMAN|AP Economics Author

WASHINGTON-- America's companies included a strong 236,000 tasks in March, suggesting that the economy stays on strong footing in spite of the nine rates of interest treks the Federal Reserve has actually imposed over the past year in its drive to tame inflation.

The joblessness rate fell to 3.5%, just above the 53-year low of 3.4% set in January.

At the same time, a few of the information of Friday's report from the Labor Department raised the possibility that inflationary pressures might be alleviating and that the Fed might quickly decide to pause its rate walkings. Average per hour earnings were up 4.2% from 12 months earlier, down greatly from a 4.6% year-over-year boost in February.

Measured month to month, earnings increased 0.3% from February to March, a tick up from a moderate 0.2% gain from January to February. However even that figure signified a downturn from typical wage boosts in the final months of 2022.

Last month's task gain marked a moderation from the sizzling 326,000 that were added in February.

" Today's report is a Goldilocks report," said Daniel Zhao, lead financial expert at Glassdoor. "It's tough to discover a method it could have been much better. We do see that the job market is cooling, but it's still durable."

In another indication that might assure the Fed's inflation fighters, a substantial 480,000 Americans began searching for operate in March. Usually, the bigger the supply of job seekers, the less pressure employers feel to raise salaries. The outcome can be an easing of inflation pressures.

The portion of individuals who either work or are looking for one-- the so-called manpower participation rate-- reached 62.6% in March, the highest level in three years. And the share of working-age Americans-- those ages 25 to 54-- who have tasks increased to 80.7%, the highest point considering that 2001.

" Americans, by and big, are looking for work and discovering it," Zhao said.

In its report Friday, the government likewise modified down its price quote of task growth in January and February by a combined 17,000.

" The labor market continues to soften," said Sinem Buber, an economic expert at the task firm ZipRecruiter. "That ought to minimize inflationary pressures in the coming months and provide the Federal Reserve higher confidence concerning the inflation outlook."

Last month's job development was led by the leisure and hospitality category, which added 72,000. Among that sector's dining establishments, bars and markets acquired 50,000.

State and local governments included 39,000, health care companies 34,000. But construction business cut 9,000 tasks, that sector's very first such decline because January 2022. And factories reduced payrolls somewhat for a second straight month, showing a downturn in U.S. production.

Though unemployment stays higher for individuals of color than for white Americans, the joblessness rate for Black employees fell last month to 5%-- the most affordable out of work rate for African Americans in federal government records dating to 1972.

With task growth still vigorous across the economy, numerous employers are still struggling to fill positions.

In North Carolina's Outer Banks, Clark Twiddy said his household business, which sells home and assists homeowners lease to visitors, still faces what he calls "the tightest job market of anybody's lifetime.'

Twiddy & & Co. has actually sharply raised entry-level pay for seasonal employees-- it employs 500 to 600 a year-- to $18-$ 20 an hour from $13-$ 14 in 2019.

Service companies like his, Twiddy said, have to deal with employees as respectfully as they do clients, understanding that the very best ones have ample job opportunities somewhere else.

" There's no algorithm that cleans up a bathroom or a kitchen area,' he stated. "We need to pay more. We have to train more. We need to engage more.'

For his 175 full-time employees, Twiddy has actually offered advantages-- from enabling versatile work-at-home schedules to taking the personnel on group journeys to Nashville and Las Vegas.

His organization is still booming, thanks to Americans' pent-up need to take holidays. Regardless of his higher expenses, he stated, "I'm making more cash at what I'm doing than I've ever done."

More than 2 years of labor lacks have actually led some business to turn to machines to try to enhance efficiency. Walmart, the nation's biggest retailer and personal employer, for instance, has started a significant push towards automation.

By the 2026 , the company says it anticipates approximately two-thirds of its shops to be served by automation, with a bulk of products that are processed through its storage facilities to move through automated centers. The modification will involve robotic forklifts that unload items from trailers rather of having workers do the manual work. Walmart said such moves will need roles that demand less physical labor yet could offer greater pay.

In spite of last month's healthy task development, the latest economic indications suggest that the economy is slowing, which would help cool inflation pressures. And though dining establishments, retailers and other services companies are still growing, they are doing so more slowly.

For Fed officials, taming inflation is Job One. They were sluggish to respond after costs began rising in the spring of 2021, concluding that it was just a momentary repercussion of supply bottlenecks triggered by the economy's surprisingly explosive rebound from the pandemic economic crisis.

Just in March 2022 did the Fed begin raising its benchmark rate from near absolutely no. In the previous year, however, it has actually raised rates more strongly than it had since the 1980s to attack the worst inflation bout since then.

And as loaning costs have risen, inflation has actually gradually relieved. The latest year-over-year consumer inflation rate-- 6%-- is well below the 9.1% rate it reached last June. However it's still significantly above the Fed's 2% target.

The Labor Department on Thursday stated it had actually adjusted the method it computes the number of Americans are declaring welfare. The tweak included nearly 100,000 jobless claims to its figures for the previous two weeks and might explain why heavy layoffs in the tech market this year had yet to show up on the joblessness rolls. The Fed has actually expressed hope that companies would relieve wage pressures by advertising less jobs instead of by cutting lots of existing jobs.

The March numbers are the last jobs report the Fed will see before its next meeting May 2-3. Its policymakers will get a clearer view of inflationary pressures next week, when the Labor Department concerns reports on rates at the customer and wholesale levels.

Some financial experts are holding out hope that the economy can avoid an economic downturn regardless of the ever-higher interest rate the Fed has actually been engineering.

" Today's job market does not look like one that's about to tip into recession,' Zhao stated. "I wouldn't bet versus the job market.'

AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.