Unemployment Rate Down to 7.6 Percent on Anemic Job Growth

Rate dropping as people drop out of labor pool

Employers added a disappointing 88,000 jobs in March, confirming fears of a slowdown in payroll growth that economists say could persist for several months. The number of new jobs is less than half what economists had forecast.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.6% from 7.7%,largely because 496,000 Americans stopped working or looking for work, the Labor Department said Friday in its monthly employment report.