WASHINGTON, April 4 -- The US economy posted unexpectedly strong job gains in March, data showed yesterday, in a development hailed by US President Donald Trump - but seen with caution by analysts.

The world's largest economy gained 178,000 jobs in March, after losing 133,000 in February, and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 per centage points to 4.3 per cent, the Labor Department said.

Yesterday's data significantly beat analyst expectations, with economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal expecting an increase of 59,000 jobs.

The data was stronger than forecast, "but vastly overstates the sustainable pace of job growth," said Oxford Economics lead US economist Nancy Vanden Houten.

"The end of a strike, ...