(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve policy makers haveanother reason to delay an interest-rate increase after a weakMarch payrolls report corroborated a first-quarter slowdown in theU.S. economy. The question is whether that’s reason enough.
Employers last month added the fewest jobs since December 2013,creating just 126,000 positions, the LaborDepartment said Friday. Revisions erased 69,000 jobs frompreviously reported tallies for January and February. The weakerdata contrast with 12 straight months of 200,000-plus monthlygains.
The Fed is watching for the economy to reach or approach fullemployment and generate higher inflation before raising interestrates from near zero. Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her colleagueslast month opened the door to an increase as soon as June whilealso suggesting in forecasts that September may be a more likelytime to begin tightening.
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