PHOTO BY ZERBOR – STOCK.ADOBE.COMThe U.S. Bureau of Labor reported that the economy added 236,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.5%. Employment trended upward in leisure and hospitality, government, professional and business services and health care.
The data was drawn from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographics. The establishment survey measures non-farm employment, hours and earnings by industry.
The Bureau of Labor said in a statement that the 3.5% unemployment rate and number of unemployed persons — 5.8 million — changed minimally last month. The measures have shown little movement since early 2022.
Among major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Hispanics decreased to 4.6% in March, offsetting an increase in February. Unemployment rates for adult men (3.4%), adult women (3.1%), teenagers (9.8%), whites (3.2%), blacks (5%) and Asians (2.8%) showed little or no change during the month, according to the statement.
Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers increased by 172,000 to 1.6 million in March, and the number of people re-entering the labor force declined by 182,000 to 1.7 million.
At 62.6%, the labor force participation rate continued to trend up. The employment-population ratio edged up to 60.4%. These measures remain below the prepandemic, February 2020 levels (63.3% and 61.1%, respectively).
The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons was unchanged at 4.1 million in March. The report said that these individuals would have preferred full-time employment and were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they couldn’t find full-time work.
The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job barely changed at 4.9 million in March and returned to its February 2020 level. These people weren’t counted as unemployed because they weren’t actively looking for work during the four weeks preceding the survey.
Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of persons marginally attached to the labor force was 1.3 million in March. They wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for employment in the four weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers was 351,000, also a minor change.
From the establishment survey, the increase of 236,000 jobs was a decline from the average of 334,000 for the previous six months. Leisure and hospitality added 72,000 jobs in March, a drop from the average of 95,000 for the previous half-year. Most of the growth occurred in food services and drinking establishments. where employment rose by 50% in March. Employment in leisure and hospitality is below prepandemic February 2020 level by 368,000 or 2.2%.
Government employment increased by 47,000 in March, the same as the average monthly gain for the prior six months, but overall this category is below its February 2020 level by 314,000 or 1.4%.
Jobs in professional business services trended up in March by 39,000, an increase of 5,000 over the previous six-month average of 34,000. Within the industry, employment in professional, scientific and technical services continued upward at plus 26,000.
Health care added 34,000 jobs in March, lower than the average monthly gain of 54,000 for the prior six months. Job growth occurred in home health care services (15,0000 added) and hospitals (up 11,000), while nursing and residential care facility jobs were up 8,000.
In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private, non-farm payrolls rose by 9 cents/0.3% to $33.18. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings increased by 4.2%. Average hourly earnings of private sector production and non-supervisory employees rose by 9 cents/0.3% to $28.50.
The average workweek for all employees on private, non-farm payrolls edged down by one hour to 34.3 in March. In manufacturing, the average workweek was 40.3 hours, and overtime was 3 hours. The average week for production and non-supervisory employees on private, non-farm payrolls was unchanged at 33.9 hours.
