Unemployment dips to 4.5%, but jobs don't deliver

The unemployment rate fell to 4.5% in March, but jobs failed to deliver what was expected.

The U.S. economy added 98,000 jobs last month, versus 180,000 expected by economists surveyed by Reuters.

However, the number of unemployed persons declined by 326,000 to 7.2 million.

The number of persons unemployed less than 5 weeks also declined, by 232,000 to 2.3 million. The number of long-term unemployed was little-changed, though that number has dropped by 526,000 over the past 12 months.

Most of the gains occurred in professional and business services (56,000, of which 17,000 were related to services to buildings and dwellings), in healthcare (14,000) and in mining (11,000), while retail trade lost jobs (-30,000).

Construction employment was up 6,000 jobs (compared to 59,000 in February).

Within the retail trade, general merchandise stores lost the most jobs (-35,000), while building material and garden supply stores added 5,300 jobs.