America’s employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March, suggesting that the economy remains on solid footing despite the nine interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve has imposed over the past year in its drive to tame inflation.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, just above the 53–year low of 3.4% set in January.

At the same time, some of the details of Friday’s report from the Labor Department raised the possibility that inflationary pressures might be easing and that the Fed might soon decide to pause its rate hikes. Average hourly wages were up 4.2% from 12 months earlier, down sharply from a 4.6% year–over–year increase in February.

Measured month to month, wages rose 0.3% from February to March, a tick up from a mild 0.2% gain from January to February. But even that figure signaled a slowdown from average wage increases in the final months of 2022.

Last month’s job gain marked a moderation from the sizzling 326,000 that were added in February.

“Today’s report is a Goldilocks report,’’ said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor. “It’s hard to find a way it could have been better. We do see that the job market is cooling, but it’s still resilient.’’

In another sign that might reassure the Fed’s inflation fighters, a substantial 480,000 Americans began looking for work in March. Typically, the bigger the supply of job seekers, the less pressure employers feel to raise wages. The result can be an easing of inflation pressures.

The percentage of people who either have a job or are looking for one — the so–called labor force participation rate — reached 62.6% in March, the highest level in three years. And the share of working–age Americans — those ages 25 to 54 — who have jobs rose to 80.7%, the highest point since 2001.

“Americans, by and large, are looking for work and finding it,‘’ Zhao said.

In its report Friday, the government also revised down its estimate of job growth in January and February by a combined 17,000.

“The labor market continues to soften,” said Sinem Buber, an economist at the job firm ZipRecruiter. ”That should reduce inflationary pressures in the coming months and give the Federal Reserve greater confidence regarding the inflation outlook.‘’

Last month’s job growth was led by the leisure and hospitality category, which added 72,000. Among that sector’s industries, restaurants and bars gained 50,000.

State and local governments added 39,000, healthcare companies 34,000. But construction companies cut 9,000 jobs, that sector’s first such decline since January 2022. And factories reduced payrolls slightly for a second straight month, reflecting a slowdown in U.S. manufacturing.

Though unemployment remains higher for people of color than for white Americans, the unemployment rate for Black workers fell last month to 5% — the lowest jobless rate for African Americans in government records dating to 1972.

With job growth still brisk across the economy, many employers are still struggling to fill positions.

In North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Clark Twiddy said his family company, which sells property and helps homeowners rent to vacationers, still faces what he calls “the tightest job market of anyone’s lifetime.’’

Twiddy & Co. has sharply raised entry–level pay for seasonal workers — it hires 500 to 600 a year — to $18–$20 an hour from $13–$14 in 2019.

Service companies like his, Twiddy said, have to treat employees as respectfully as they do customers, knowing that the best ones have ample job opportunities elsewhere.