The new jobs numbers reported Friday are not spectacular by the standards of the last couple of years. But they also signify a sigh of relief.

A weak job growth number in February had appeared to be the most solid evidence yet that the United States economy was slowing, and perhaps even that the expansion might be near an end. The Labor Department originally reported that employers added a mere 20,000 jobs that month. Even after new revisions, that number came in at only 33,000.

The March number — 196,000 positions added last month — makes clear that February was an aberration, not a trend. For all the fluctuations in financial markets and pessimistic commentary at the end of last year, the great American job creation machine is still humming.

Over the last six months, the economy has averaged 207,000 new jobs a month, which is actually better than the results in 2017 and only slightly behind the rates of 2018.