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- The US unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% in March from 3.9% in February.
- There were 303,000 US jobs added, the news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
- Year-over-year average hourly earnings rose 4.1%.
Amid job demand for certain well-paying roles and job openings not changing too much from January to February, the US economy added 303,000 jobs in March.
That job growth, stated in Friday's news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was well above the forecast of 212,000 added jobs. Per the news release, January's job growth was revised from 229,000 to 256,000. February's job growth was revised from 275,000 to 270,000.
The leisure and hospitality industry saw employment increase by 49,000 to 16.9 million. Friday's news release said that the industry "has returned to its pre-pandemic February 2020 level."
"Over the prior 12 months, job growth in the industry had averaged 37,000 per month," the release said.
Construction also saw strong employment growth, with a one-month increase of 39,000. Healthcare saw employment growth of around 72,000.
The US unemployment rate decreased from 3.9% to 3.8%. The unemployment rate was forecasted to hold steady at a rate of 3.9%.
After three consecutive months at 62.5%, the labor force participation rate increased from 62.5% to 62.7%. The employment-population ratio increased from 60.1% in February to 60.3% in March.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% in March from $34.57 an hour in February. Average hourly earnings rose 4.1% year over year in March, from $33.31 an hour to $34.69 an hour. That rise is less than the previous 4.3% rise. The Federal Reserve has been closely watching wage growth, and a continued decline could lead the central bank to cut rates later this year as is widely expected.
Additionally, data released earlier this week shows the number of people who quit rose by 38,000 in February from January's level. There were around 3.5 million quits in February. Openings for roles in February were elevated from the levels seen before the pandemic, but there were only 8,000 more openings in February than January.
"On the last business day of February, the number of job openings changed little at 8.8 million; this measure is down from a series high of 12.2 million in March 2022," Tuesday's news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics about the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey estimates said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.