Claims for jobless benefits dropped last week to match a four-year low, and U.S. consumer confidence rose to the highest since 2008, signaling an improving labor market may boost household spending. 
 
 Applications for unemployment insurance payments fell by 14,000 to 351,000 in the period ended March 10, Labor Department figures showed today. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to minus 33.7 from minus 36.7 in the week ended March 11. 
 
 “There’s a steady, sustained improvement in the labor market,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, who was ranked the most-accurate forecaster of personal spending over the two years through February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “As more people have jobs, confidence is picking up. This is consistent with pretty solid gains in consumer spending.” 
 
 Prospects for stronger household demand, along with investment in new equipment, helped sustain manufacturing in the New York and Philadelphia regions this month, reports from the Federal Reserve showed today. At the same time, wholesale prices climbed in February by the most in five months, a reminder that higher gasoline costs pose a risk to corporate and consumer spending. 
 
 U.S. stocks advanced on the data, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index above 1,400 for the first time in almost four years. The index rose 0.6 percent to 1,402.60 at the 4 p.m. close of trading in New York. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was little changed at 2.28 percent. 
 
 The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 52 economists called for 357,000 jobless claims. The Labor Department revised the prior week’s applications to 365,000 from the initially reported 362,000. 
 
 Firings Slow 
 
 Companies have slowed the pace of firings and are expanding their workforces as sales rise and the threat of financial contagion from a European default diminishes. Job growth in February capped the best six months since 2006, and the unemployment rate stayed at 8.3 percent, a three-year low. 
 
 “The economy seems to have regained its footing and is now on the way up,” said Edmund Phelps, director of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University in New York and a Nobel Prize-winning economist. “It’s a good sign that companies are confident enough to be beginning to get their stock of employees back up to more normal levels.” 
 
 Rising Wages 
 
 TopJob Staffing, Inc. in Roswell, Georgia, which provides part-time bartenders and banquet employees for company events, this month added a full-time corporate staff manager. It was the first full-time manager added in seven years, President Scott Harb said. 
 
 “Our big corporate accounts and country clubs are calling us more frequently,” said Harb, 47. “When companies cut back, hospitality is the first thing to go. It came back in 2010 and was sustained in 2011.” 
 
 Brighter job prospects and rising wages are giving consumers the means to spend more. Purchases at stores and malls advanced 1.1 percent in February, the most in five months, after a 0.6 percent rise in January that was larger than previously estimated. 
 
 “We’re seeing some improvement in the environment” for the American consumer, Stuart Burgdoerfer, chief financial officer at Limited Brands Inc., said today at a conference in Boston. Columbus, Ohio-based Limited Brands operates the Victoria’s Secret lingerie chain and Bath & Body Works stores. 
 
 Clothing stores and auto dealers were among those showing improving demand last month. Cars and light trucks sold last month at the fastest pace in four years, according to Ward’s Automotive Group. 
 
 Buying Climate 
 
 The confidence report’s measure of the buying climate reached the highest level since November 2007, and a gauge of the state of the economy had its best showing since September 2008. 
 
 Lauren Barnard, 24, switched jobs last month after she was recruited by a San Francisco-based public relations company that specializes in technology. Barnard said she got a higher salary and is now considering buying a new car. 
 
 “I feel more comfortable spending money, going out to eat and getting drinks, and I think it’s the same for my friends,” said Barnard, a client executive. “I don’t have a fear that I’m going to lose my job anytime soon. I feel really comfortable. One of my friends even just bought a house, which is pretty cool.” 
 
 Stock Gains 
 
 Stock gains are also lifting consumer spirits as household wealth grows. The S&P 500 Index has climbed almost 12 percent this year. 
 
 Full-time workers and people living in the South were among the groups that registered their highest levels of confidence in four years. The comfort gauge for political independents, a key swing group during this year’s election, improved to minus 29.9, the best reading since 2007, the year before voters last went to the polls to pick a new president. 
 
 Manufacturers remain at the forefront of the nearly three- year economic expansion. 
 
 The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index increased to 20.2 this month, the highest since June 2010, from 19.5 in February. Readings greater than zero signal growth in New York, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut. 
 
 A similar index from the Philadelphia Fed showed manufacturing in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware expanded at the fastest pace in 11 months as factory employment picked up. 
 
 Fuel Costs 
 
 Rising fuel costs threaten to curb corporate profits and consumer spending. The average price of regular gasoline at the pump climbed to a 10-month high of $3.82 a gallon yesterday. 
 
 Today’s Labor Department report showed the producer-price index rose 0.4 percent in February following a 0.1 percent increase the prior month. 
 
 Stepped-up hiring prompted Fed policy makers this week to raise their assessment of the economy, while repeating that interest rates are likely to stay low at least through late 2014. 
 
 To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Kowalski in Washington at akowalski13@bloomberg.net; Shobhana Chandra in Washington at schandra1@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net ||||| CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share Less than 100,000 jobs were made in March, despite predictions that the number would be nearly twice that. Amanda Kabbabe (@kabbaber) has more. Buzz60 
 
 Hiring was surprisingly strong in January and February. (Photo: Charles Krupa, AP) 
 
 Harsh winter weather slowed U.S. hiring last month as employers added 98.000 jobs in a pullback that was sharper than expected. 
 
 Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had projected an increase of 180,000 jobs. 
 
 The U.S. unemployment rate, which is calculated from a different survey, fell from 4.7% to 4.5%, lowest since May 2007. . 
 
 Analysts had expected somewhat of a retreat in job growth after unseasonably mild winter temperatures pulled forward hiring to early in the year, especially in industries such as construction. That trend resulted in job gains of 200,000-plus in January and February. Along with that, a snowstorm that slammed into the Midwest and East Coast in mid-March likely curtailed job growth even more, said Jim O’Sullivan, an economist with High Frequency Economics.. 
 
 Before the report from the Labor Department was released on Friday, Goldman Sachs had estimated the weather could drag down payroll gains by 30,000 to 60,000. 
 
 Some economists also have said the outsize job gains early this year defied a low unemployment rate, which means businesses face a shrinking pool of available workers. Many analysts expect that trend will result in average monthly payroll gains of about 170,000 this year, down from 187,000 last year and 226,000 in 2015. 
 
 The feeble showing in March likely reflects the weather, a late Easter that could have pushed holiday hiring to April from March and a tight labor market, said Gus Faucher, an economist with PNC Financial Services Group. 
 
 “It is getting tougher for businesses to hire workers,” he said. 
 
 The construction industry added just 6,000 jobs last month, while retailers were especially hard-hit by the weather, as well as store closing by chains such as Sears and Macy's, losing 30,000. Leisure and hospitality added 9,000 jobs, and health care grew by 17,000. Professional and business services was unscathed by the weather, adding 56,000 jobs. 
 
 The Federal Reserve is looking for steady employment gains to justify its plans for two more rate hikes this year. The Fed has raised its benchmark rate twice since December. Still, economist Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics wrote to clients that Friday's weak report "isn't going to stop the Fed from hiking interest rates again in June." 
 
 In March, businesses added 89,000 jobs. Federal, state and local governments added 9,000. 
 
 Job gains for January and February were revised down by 38,000. January’s was revised to 216,000 from 235,000, and February’s to 219,000 from 238,000. 
 
 Average hourly wages rose 5 cents to $26.14, but annual gains slipped to 2.7% from 2.8% the prior month. Earnings generally have picked up the past year or so from the tepid 2% pace that prevailed for most of the recovery. But the Fed is looking for a further acceleration and faster inflation to bolster its rate hike plan. Employers are expected to lift wages to attract the smaller pool of workers. 
 
 Some other reports seemed to signal continued strong hiring in March. Payroll processor ADP estimated that businesses added a booming 298,000 jobs. And an index of hiring in manufacturing climbed to its highest level in nearly six years. 
 
 At the same time, a measure of hiring in the service sector, which makes up about 80% of the economy, fell sharply. And initial jobless claims, a barometer of layoffs, rose steadily through the month. 
 
 Strong employment gains and a falling unemployment rate from March through May could convince the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again in June, following two hikes since December. 
 
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– A pretty dismal number on today's jobs report: Just 74,000 jobs were created in December, the smallest monthly increase in three years; economists had expected 200,000. And while the unemployment rate fell to 6.7% from 7.0%, it was "for all the wrong reasons," writes Steven Russolillo at the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, the big drop can be explained by the fact that the participation rate fell to a new low of 62.8%, meaning fewer people were looking for work. The AP reports that cold weather could have played a role in the poor numbers, noting that construction firms cut 16,000 jobs—the largest drop in 20 months. One silver lining from the report: November's new jobs were revised upward to 241,000 from 203,000. And Russolillo writes that the same could happen here. "Something doesn’t smell right. This jobs number is so far out of whack from the recent economic data that have come out. Jobs data have been getting stronger for months, not to mention improvements in growth, housing, and manufacturing figures. Don't be surprised if this report gets revised higher in the coming months."