Weak jobs data released on Friday dashed economists' hopes of a faster return to pre- recession employment levels, highlighting the possibility of slower job growth ahead, U.S. experts said.

The U.S. economy added 120,000 jobs in March, fewer than expected, according to figures released in Washington by the U.S. Labor Department. This snapped a three-month trend averaging nearly 150,000 jobs per month.

"After six months of robust job gains, a mediocre report in March may signal the start of slower improvements in the next few months,"said Gary Burtless, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institute.

Friday's report came as the U.S. undergoes the longest stretch of high unemployment since the Great Depression, as the jobless rate has exceeded the 8 percent mark since February 2009. And with gas prices inching toward 4 U.S. dollars per gallon in some parts of the country, hourly wages up just 2.1 percent over the past year and inflation climbing to 2.9 percent, many Americans are in for more hard times.

Rapid job growth is an important factor in kickstarting the floundering U.S. economy, as it helps boost consumer spending, which makes up 70 percent of the world's biggest economy.

"The low job growth in March was an unpleasant surprise and underscores the fact that a robust jobs recovery has not yet solidified,"said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

While the jobless rate ticked down by one-tenth of a percent to 8.2 percent, the drop was largely due to people dropping out of the workforce, not to an increase in the share of the working-age population with jobs, she said.

The jobless rate includes only those actively seeking employment, which means last month's unemployment numbers are the result of a smaller pool of jobless workers.

U.S. economists say that people stop looking for work when they become disheartened over the lack of jobs prospects and simply give up. And an increased number of workforce dropouts points to an unhealthy economy.

With millions of unemployed, consumers remain reluctant to empty their wallets to buy cars, houses and consumer products -- the things that make the U.S. economy go round.

Retail employment and the temporary help industry were two sectors of the economy that stood out as particularly weak, Burtless noted. Employment in retail trade fell 34,000 in March, reversing six months of an average increase of 11,000 jobs.

Temporary help service employment fell slightly, by 7,500, after climbing an average of 28,000 a month between August 2011 and February 2012.

WASHINGTON TAKES THE HEAT

Mike Brownfield, editor of the Heritage Foundation's blog The Foundry, said that the disappointing jobs figures underscore U.S. President Barack Obama's failure to spur recovery, and that his policies "have almost certainly held recovery back by increasing regulatory costs, increasing uncertainty, ballooning the budget deficit, and constantly threatening higher taxes."

Those sentiments echo the thoughts of many economists and conservative pundits who charge the Obama administration with unleashing a tsunami of regulations that has stunted economic growth and slowed the recovery from the worst downturn in recent memory.

Others economists, however, said that the problem has little to do with Washington, maintaining that high unemployment is structural -- economists' speak meaning there are not enough workers with the right skills to fill job slots in a knowledge- based economy.

Obama said in a statement issued on Friday that there was " more work to be done." But he put a positive spin on the numbers, saying that"today's employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."

"Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth, including weak construction investment, the economy has added private sector jobs for 25 straight months, for a total of 4.1 million jobs over that period," Obama said.

Many economists, however, have said over the past two years that jobs are not being added fast enough to offset the number of new entrants into the workforce, such as recent high school and college graduates.