Economy added new jobs in March

Payrolls surge in March marked the beginning of job recovery as employers added 162,000 nonfarm jobs. This good news came from the Labor Department reported on Friday, after eight million jobs lost since the beginning of recession in December 2007. To absorb only new entrants into the labor market the economy needs to add more than 100,000 jobs a month.

While the unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent, economists saw signs in the latest report that the economy was poised to make steady progress.