The U.S. lost 4.3 million jobs in President Obama's first 13 months in office and has stumbled to recover.
Hiring slowed dramatically in March, clouding optimism about the strength of the recovery, according to Annalyn Censky of CNN Money.
Employers added 120,000 jobs in the month, the Labor Department reported Friday, falling far short of economists' expectations.
The number marked a significant slowdown in hiring from February, when the economy added 240,000 jobs.
"It's discouraging that job growth was half of what it had been the previous month," said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project.
Job growth of around 120,000 is just about enough to keep up with population growth, and is therefore more like "treading water" than a major improvement, Owens said.
"It's a reminder that the U.S. recovery is not suddenly going to transform into a spectacular success, particularly not at a time when the rest of the world economy is stumbling," Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist of Capital Economics said in a note.
The hardest hit industry was retail, which lost 33,800 jobs, mostly at department stores.
On the positive side, manufacturers created 37,000 jobs, professional services created 31,000 jobs, and health care added 26,000 jobs.
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