Never mind that private employers added 277,000 jobs in March.

The nation's employers added only 138,000 jobs, well below the average of 210,000 a month since last November.

In November alone, employers added 132,000 jobs, according to the government.

In the last 12 months, employers have added a net 78,200 new jobs, an increase of 2.2 percent.

Employers added workers rather than hours in June, the bureau reported yesterday.

Employers are adding about 150,000 jobs each month, according to the government's survey of businesses.

Employers added only 56,000 jobs in October, well below the 150,000 or so that are needed to keep pace with population growth.

The nation's employers added 75,000 jobs in May, less than half what most forecasters had expected.

Those figures showed that for the first time in 11 months employers added workers to their payrolls.

Employers added 1.64 million workers in 2011, the best year for the American worker since 2006, after a 940,000 increase in 2010.