UPDATE - US adds 303,000 jobs in March, more than 212,000 estimates

UPDATES WITH PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S COMMENTS

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US economy added 303,000 jobs in March, much higher than market estimates, the Labor Department said on Friday.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls was to show a gain of 212,000 last month.

Job additions for February, on the other hand, were revised down by 5,000, from 275,000 to 270,000.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell to 3.8% in March from 3.9% in February. The market estimate for the figure was to come in at 3.9%.

"Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.7 percent, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.3 percent, were little changed in March," the Labor Department said in a statement.

"With today’s report of 303,000 new jobs in March, we have passed the milestone of 15 million jobs created since I took office," President Joe Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

"Unemployment has been under 4% for the longest stretch in more than 50 years. Wages are going up. Inflation has come down significantly," he added.

Biden said he will bring down the price of insulin, inhalers and prescription drugs, and called on large corporations to pass along their record profits to consumers.