The unemployment rate provided little change at 7.6% for March, the Department of Labor said.

There were 11.7 million unemployed persons, with the number of long-term unemployed remaining steady at 4.6 million.

The total amount of payroll jobs slightly inched up to 88,000, which is significantly less than last month.

“Today’s employment report was very disappointing even the unemployment rate eased-for the wrong reason,” an analyst with Econoday said.

They explained, “Total payroll jobs rose a meager 88,000 after gaining 268,000 in February (originally up 236,000). Analysts forecast a 193,000 rise for March.”

As a whole, the civilian labor force decline 496,000 over the month, declining the participation rate by 0.2%, the department stated.