The U.S. Labor
Department announced on Friday that nonfarm payrolls rose by 228,000 in March
after a downwardly revised 117,000 advance (from 151,000) in February. This was the strongest monthly advance in
three months and higher than the average monthly gain of 158,000 over the prior
12 months.
According to
the report, employment increased
in health care (+54,000), social
assistance (+24,000), retail trade (+24,000), and transportation and
warehousing (+23,000). Meanwhile, the federal government (-4,000) lost jobs.
The
unemployment rate inched up to 4.2
per cent from an unrevised 4.1 per cent. This marked the highest rate since November 2024 (4.2 per cent).
Economists had anticipated
the nonfarm payrolls to advance by 135,000 and the jobless rate to hold steady at 4.1 per cent.
The labour
force participation rate edged up to 62.5 per cent in March from
an unrevised 62.4 per cent in
the previous month, while hourly earnings for private-sector workers grew 0.3
per cent m-o-m (or $0.09) to $36.00, following a downwardly revised 0.2 per cent m-o-m gain (from +0.3 per cent
m-o-m) in February. Economists had forecast the average hourly earnings to rise 0.3 per cent m-o-m
in March.
Over the year,
the average hourly earnings soared 3.8 per cent in March, following an unrevised 4.0 per cent jump in the previous month. This represented the weakest annual
advance since July 2024 (+3.6 per cent). Economists had predicted the annual
wages to increase by 3.9 per cent in March.
The
average workweek was unchanged at 34.2 hours last month, matching economists'
expectations.