Jobs report has Wall St. reeling

Wall Street took one of its biggest beatings of the year yesterday, courtesy of a mediocre March jobs report that left experts divided over how well the country will fare economically moving forward.

The United States added only 88,000 jobs last month, the nation's worst employment growth since June 2012. Nearly half a million people also dropped out of the workforce, bringing the unemployment rate down to 7.6 percent.

"That's clearly not a good sign at all and certainly a cause for concern that the recovery, which was already slow, may be stalling," said Michael Goodman, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. "The decline in the labor force and the decline in the participation in the labor force are both very troubling signs."

Goodman added that initial federal government sequester effects, payroll tax increases and "continued drama and uncertainty" in Europe were all culprits in dragging hiring and confidence down last month.

"When you miss the expectation by half, it certainly is a big surprise," he said.

Though subject to revision, March's poor jobs figures took a major toll on the financial markets yesterday. After plummeting nearly 170 points, the Dow Jones industrial average recovered to close down about 41 points at 14,565.25, while the S&P 500 dropped 6.7 points to close at 1,553.28. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 21.12 points to close at 3,203.86.

Several sectors, including retail, financial services and manufacturing, all shed significant numbers of jobs, according to the report.

Yet Christine Armstrong, senior vice president at Morgan Stanley, said positive housing data, low energy prices and strong corporate profitability will offset the shock waves generated by the low numbers.

A boost in jobs in January and February didn't hurt either, Armstrong added. February's job gains were revised to 268,000, while January gained 29,000 more jobs than previously estimated.

Northeastern University economist Alan Clayton-Matthews said job growth will likely be slower in the months ahead due to the automatic federal budget cuts caused by the sequester.

"What we're seeing is just the simple math of positive growth on one side and negative effects on growth on the other and here's the net — slow to moderate growth," he said. "I don't think we have to be overly worried, but we have to trim our expectations a bit."

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