Payrolls Explode in March

Updated from 9:55 a.m. EST

The labor market roared back to life in March, adding 308,000 nonfarm jobs, as the Federal Reserve's two-year-old commitment to easy credit finally sparked the employment revival seen as crucial to President Bush's re-election. Stocks, bond yields and the dollar spiked on the news.

In addition to March's blowout number, which represented the greatest monthly job growth since April 2000, the Labor Department also revised higher the number of jobs added in the year's first two months. In January, payrolls grew by 159,000, not the 97,000 reported last month, and February payroll growth was 46,000, not the originally reported 21,000.

"We've known all along the economy is growing, and employment was a lagging indicator. This was a catching up," said Vincent Malanga, president of LaSalle Economics. "The labor market looks a lot stronger than it did five minutes ago." ...