US economy adds 303,000 jobs, unemployment falls to 3.8% in March as labor market continues to impress

By Stock News On Apr 5, 2024 5 0

The US economy added more jobs than expected in March while the unemployment rate ticked lower.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday showed the labor market added 303,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in March, significantly more additions than the 214,000 expected by economists. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate decreased to 3.8%, from 3.9% in February.

Here are the key numbers Wall Street will be looking at compared to the previous month, according to data from Bloomberg:

Nonfarm payrolls: 303,000 vs. +214,000 est. (275,000 previously)
Unemployment rate: 3.8% vs. 3.8% est. (3.9% previously)
Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: 0.3% vs. +0.3% est. (+0.1% previously)
Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: 4.1%. +4.1% est. (+4.3% previously)
Average weekly hours worked: 34.4 vs. 34.3 est. (34.3 previously)

The report comes as investors continue to watch for signs of cooling in the labor market while hoping for overall strength to support Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s current base case for interest cuts later this year. After two months of strong job gains, Powell has referred to the labor market as “strong but rebalancing” in a speech at Stanford University on Thursday.

Strength in the labor market has been considered a key to the economy avoiding recession while the Fed keeps rates restrictive to help fight inflation.

Broadly, other data out this week has reflected a still-resilient labor market. The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released Tuesday, showed both job openings and hires ticked up slightly in February. Meanwhile, the latest data on private employment from ADP showed 185,000 private jobs were added in March, above the 155,000 seen in February.

“The February Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report is consistent with a labor market that is still quite healthy,” Oxford Economics lead US economist Nancy Vanden Houten wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.