*Summary: After adding a paltry 20,000 jobs in February, hiring exploded in March as U.S. employers added a solid 196,000 jobs! Experts say it’s evidence that many businesses still want to hire despite signs that the economy is slowing.
The unemployment rate remained at 3.8%, near the lowest level in almost 50 years, the Labor Department reported Friday. Wage growth slowed a bit in March, with average hourly pay increasing 3.2% from a year earlier. That was down from February’s year-over-year gain of 3.4%, which was the best in a decade.
The figures reported Friday suggest that February’s anemic job growth — revised to 33,000, from an initial 20,000 — was merely a temporary blip and that businesses are confident the economy remains on a firm footing. Even with the current expansion nearly 10 years old, the U.S. economy is showing resilience.
Here’s the FULL report via a press release from the Dept. of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 196,000 in March, and the
unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in health care and
in professional and technical services.
This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household
survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic
characteristics. The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours,
and earnings by industry. For more information about the concepts and
statistical methodology used in these two surveys, see the Technical Note.
Household Survey Data
The unemployment rate remained at 3.8 percent in March, and the number of
unemployed persons was essentially unchanged at 6.2 million. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men
(3.6 percent), adult women (3.3 percent), teenagers (12.8 percent), Whites
(3.4 percent), Blacks (6.7 percent), Asians (3.1 percent), and Hispanics
(4.7 percent) showed little or no change in March. (See tables A-1, A-2,
and A-3.)
In March, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks
or more) was essentially unchanged at 1.3 million and accounted for 21.1
percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)
The labor force participation rate, at 63.0 percent, was little changed
over the month and has shown little movement on net over the past 12 months.
The employment-population ratio was 60.6 percent in March and has been
either 60.6 percent or 60.7 percent since October 2018. (See table A-1.)
The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes
referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 4.5
million in March. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time
employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced
or they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-8.)
In March, 1.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,
little different from a year earlier. (Data are not seasonally adjusted.)
These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available
for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They
were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in
the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.)
Among the marginally attached, there were 412,000 discouraged workers in
March, about unchanged from a year earlier. (Data are not seasonally
adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work
because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 944,000
persons marginally attached to the labor force in March had not searched
for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.
(See table A-16.)
Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 196,000 in March, with notable
gains in health care and in professional and technical services. Employment
growth averaged 180,000 per month in the first quarter of 2019, compared
with 223,000 per month in 2018. (See table B-1.)
Health care added 49,000 jobs in March and 398,000 over the past 12 months.
Over the month, employment increased in ambulatory health care services (+27,000),
hospitals (+14,000), and nursing and residential care facilities (+9,000).
Employment in professional and technical services grew by 34,000 in March
and 311,000 over the past 12 months. In March, computer systems design and
related services added 12,000 jobs. Employment continued to trend up in
architectural and engineering services (+6,000) and in management and technical
consulting services (+6,000).
In March, employment in food services and drinking places continued its
upward trend (+27,000), in line with its average monthly gain over the prior
12 months.
Employment in construction showed little change in March (+16,000) but has
increased by 246,000 over the past 12 months.
Manufacturing employment changed little for the second month in a row (-6,000
in March, following +1,000 in February). In the 12 months prior to February,
manufacturing had added an average of 22,000 jobs per month. Within the
industry, employment in motor vehicles and parts declined in March (-6,000).
Employment in other major industries, including mining, wholesale trade,
retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial
activities, and government, showed little change over the month.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased
by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in March, offsetting a decline of 0.1 hour in
February. In manufacturing, the average workweek was unchanged in March at
40.7 hours, while overtime decreased by 0.1 hour to 3.4 hours. The average
workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm
payrolls rose by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)
In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls rose by 4 cents to $27.70, following a 10-cent gain in February.
Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.2 percent.
Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory
employees increased by 6 cents to $23.24 in March. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised up from
+311,000 to +312,000, and the change for February was revised up from +20,000
to +33,000. With these revisions, employment gains in January and February
combined were 14,000 more than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result
from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since
the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.)
After revisions, job gains have averaged 180,000 per month over the last 3 months.
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