The pickup in U.S. employment was probably sustained in March, and factory assembly lines kept humming, showing that a jump in fuel costs has yet to choke the expansion, economists said before reports today.
Payrolls increased by 190,000 workers last month after a 192,000 advance in February that was the biggest in nine months, according to the median forecast of 83 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Manufacturing may have expanded at about the same pace as in February, the strongest month in almost seven years.
