The nation added 162,000 jobs in March, the biggest increase since May 2007, it was announced this morning. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports:

Job growth continued in temporary help services and in health care. Federal government employment increased due to the hiring of temporary workers for Census 2010. Job losses continued in financial activities and in information.

Hiring related to the 2010 U.S. Census accounts for 48,000 of those jobs; 123,000 jobs were added in the private sector.

So why did the unemployment rate hold if there was job growth? Unemployed Americans who had given up on the job market are now seeking employment again. The U6 unemployment rate, considered a broader measure, ticked up to 16.9 percent.

President Obama is scheduled to address the unemployment picture on a trip to North Carolina this morning. He'll visit an advanced battery technology manufacturer that is now hiring because of a Recovery Act grant, the White House says, where he'll "point to the economic progress made since he took office and continue his push for Congress to build on that progress by acting on his additional job creation proposals." Let the spin begin.

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