March yields first significant job growth in three years

For the first time in three years, the American economy added a significant number of jobs since the Great Recession started, adding an estimated 162,000 jobs according to the Labor Department.

While many will view last months job growth as a step in the right direction, the unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.7 percent for the third month in a row. Economists have warned that the labor recovery will be slow.

Of the 162,000 jobs created last month, 123,000 were created in the private sector, while 48,000 positions were generated by the Census Bureau. The government also revised previous job numbers from January and February, saying the economy created 14,000 jobs in January instead of the losing 26,000 as originally reported. And in February, it shaved job loses from 28,0000 to 14,0000.

Since the beginning of the year, the economy added an average 54,000 jobs in the first quarter, which is a significant turnaround from losses averaging 752,700 jobs per month in the first quarter of 2009.

While it remains to be seen if these kind of numbers can continue to rise, it should be a positive sign to Americans that the economy is beginning to bounce back, especially considering that the Dow Jones gained 4.1 percent, its best first quarter performance since 1999. If the economy does continue to grow, even at a slow rate, it will be interesting to see how Tea Baggers spin this as being bad for the country - if anyone can make job growth look bad, or at least make themselves believe it is bad for the country, it is certainly the nuts on the right.