April 5 (UPI) — The Labor Department said Friday that 303,000 jobs were created in March beating economists’ expectations while unemployment was 3.8%, in line with expectations.
“Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 303,000 in March, higher than the average monthly gain of 231,000 over the prior 12 months,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a statement. “In March, job gains occurred in health care, government, and construction.”
March job growth was expected by Dow Jones economists to be 200,000, anticipating a drop from the 275,000 created in February.
That February number was well above the 198,000 that had been expected.
The expectation ahead of Friday’s March jobs report was that joblessness would tick down to 3.8%, and it did.
Unemployment for February came in at 3.9% while the consensus expectation was 3.7%. Unemployment has remained below 4% for the longest period in over five decades.
According to payroll company ADP, 184,000 private sector jobs were added in March while worker pay was up by 5.1%. ADP said pay was “heating up” in both goods and services employment in March.
Of the March jobs created, 72,000 were in health care, above the average monthly gain of 60,000 over the prior twelve months.
Government jobs were up by 71,000 in March, also higher than the average monthly gain of 54,000.
Construction added 39,000 new March jobs, which was roughly double the monthly average in that sector. Leisure and hospitality added 49,000 jobs.
Services jobs increased by 16,000.
According ot the Labor Department average earnings for all employees grew 12 cents to $34.69. Average hourly earnings over the past twelve months increased by 4.1%.
Within the unemployment numbers, the rate for Black workers was up in March to 6.4%. For Hispanics it was 4.5%.
White workers had a 3.4% unemployment rate and Asians were at 2.5% unemployment in March.
Adult men had a 3.3% jobless rate. It was 3.6% for adult women.
