The U.S. added 236,000 jobs last month, down for the third month in a row, while the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 3.5% from 3.6% in February, according to the latest Employment Situation Summary from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment continued to trend up in leisure and hospitality, government, professional and business services, and healthcare.
Both the unemployment rate, and the number of unemployed persons, at 5.8 million, changed little in March. These measures have shown little net movement since early 2022.
With the Federal Reserve’s many interest rate hikes over the past year meant to quell inflation, year-over-year growth in average hourly earnings slowed to 4.2% in March.
Also, the U.S. labor force added almost half a million workers in March, with the share of Americans 25 to 54, the prime working years, rising to 80.7%, the highest rate since 2001.
Key findings:
- Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Hispanics decreased to 4.6% in March, essentially offsetting an increase in the prior month. The unemployment rates for adult men (3.4%), adult women (3.1%), teenagers (9.8%), Whites (3.2%), Blacks (5.0%) and Asians (2.8%) showed little or no change over the month.
- Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers increased by 172,000 to 1.6 million in March, and the number of reentrants to the labor force declined by 182,000 to 1.7 million. (Reentrants are persons who previously worked but were not in the labor force prior to beginning their job search.)
- The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 1.1 million in March. These individuals accounted for 18.9% of all unemployed persons.
- The labor force participation rate, at 62.6%, continued to trend up in March. The employment population ratio edged up over the month to 60.4%. These measures remain below their pre-pandemic February 2020 levels (63.3% and 61.1%, respectively).
- The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons was essentially unchanged at 4.1 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.
- The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 4.9 million in March and has returned to its February 2020 level. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the four weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.
For the full report, go here.
