It was a bit of a disappointment," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets. "We're continuing to see moderate but unspectacular job growth in the U.S. and that's consistent with an economy that's growing at a modest rate."
The report was discouraging in many regards. While the unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.4%, the drop was partly because 37,000 people dropped out of the labor force.