The U.S. unemployment rate in March remained unchanged at 5.5 percent, the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics announced. But during the same time frame, the economy only added about 126,000 jobs, a figure the Washington Post called "disappointing."

"Employment continued to trend up in professional and business services, health care and retail trade," the Bureau of Labor Statistics detailed. In the mining industry, however, jobs were lost, the agency added.

The 126,000 jobs were the fewest new positions created since December 2013, and the March figures put an end to a 12-month streak during which the U.S. economy had added at least 200,000 positions, the Washington Post pointed out. Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected employers to create some 245,000 jobs last month, the newspaper added.

Perc Pineda, a senior economist at Credit Union National Association, admitted that the picture was not as rosy as one might have hoped.

"The economy is hitting some speed bumps," Pineda noted.

Jim Baird, the chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors in Kalamazoo, Michigan, told Reuters that the worsening picture can be blamed -- at least partially -- on macroeconomic tendencies.

"There's no question that the economy is showing the negative effects of the stronger dollar and the collapse in oil prices," Baird noted. "Corporate profits have come under pressure, and hiring has been adjusted in response," he added.

Meanwhile, the slump in job creation has renewed the debate about when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates above their near-zero level, the New York Times noted. Janet Yellen, the central bank's chairwoman, insisted last week that the Fed would move slowly to raise rates even after it began the process of lifting short-term borrowing costs, the newspaper added.

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, meanwhile, admitted that the numbers his department released were not ideal, though he cautioned not to read too much into a single month's report.

Job creating "was lower than expectations, without a doubt," Perez said, according to the New York Times. "But I've always said that one month never makes a trend," he added.