National unemployment rate steady in March

The national unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent in March, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in March, including additions in temporary help services and health care. Federal government employment also increased, reflecting the hiring of temporary workers for U.S. Census efforts. Employment continued to decline in the finance and information sectors.  

The number of long-term unemployed - those without jobs for at least 27 weeks - increased by 414,000 to 6.5 million, the report said, noting that 44.1 percent of all unemployed people were jobless for at least 27 weeks.

The number of involuntary part-time workers - those working part-time because hours had been cut back or they were unable to find a full-time job - increased to 9.1 million.

The report also said that about 2.3 million people were "marginally attached" to the labor force in March, up from 2.1 million a year earlier. Marginally attached workers are those who wanted and were available for work and had looked for work in the last 12 months but had not sought employment in the last four weeks.  

U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt expressed his displeasure with the latest numbers and the Obama administration's proposals to stimulate the economy.

"Our people deserve better, particularly after the hundreds of billions of dollars they have committed to the so-called stimulus," Blunt said in a news release. He said that recent health care reforms might create jobs to collect new taxes, "but that will surely be more than offset by the massive increases in job-killing taxes contained in that bill."

U.S. Sen. Kit Bond pointed to the need to strengthen relationships with nations in southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent as key to creating new jobs. Bond returned last week from a trip to the region to meet with industrial and security leaders.

"Strengthening our relationships with our Asian allies, like India and Thailand, is critical to creating much needed jobs in Missouri today and building the strong partnerships we need to continue to tackle terrorism and other threats tomorrow,” Bond said in a separate news release.