US employers stepped up their pace of hiring in March, a sign of steady economic growth that suggests a winter slowdown was only temporary.
US nonfarm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 192,000 in March, the Labor Department said Friday. January and February payrolls were revised up by a combined 37,000.
The nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.7 per cent in March. More people found work and more people joined the labour force.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had projected payrolls would rise 200,000 and the unemployment rate would fall to 6.6 per cent last month.
All of March’s gains came from the private sector, bringing non-government employment to a new milestone. Private payrolls reached 116.09 million last month, surpassing the former high of 115.98m reached in January 2008.
“The private sector lost 8.8 million jobs during the labour market downturn and has gained 8.9 million since the employment low in February 2010,” said Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erica Groshen.
But conditions have changed substantially in the past six years. State, local and federal governments have shed 535,000 jobs, leaving total employment well short of its all-time high. The civilian labour force has expanded by roughly 2m. And the mix of private-sector jobs has changed. For example, more people work in temp and health care jobs, and fewer in construction and manufacturing.
Overall, the latest payroll numbers suggest the economy is gaining some traction and could be poised for faster growth in the coming months.
Activity had slowed during the winter as snowstorms and icy temperatures blasted cities across the Midwest and much of the East Coast. Growth appears to be picking up, though businesses and consumers remain cautious. Factory activity is advancing only modestly and household spending was constrained in the first months of the year.
The Federal Reserve has responded to a mixed outlook by slowly paring its bond-buying programme while also signalling its benchmark interest rate will remain near zero at least into next year. “While there has been steady progress, there is also no doubt that the economy and the job market are not back to normal health,” Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said earlier this week.
In one positive sign, hiring has been accelerating since December. But Friday’s report showed that payrolls grew an average of 178,000 a month so far this year, slower than last year’s average of 194,000 a month.
Last month, employment rose in professional and business services, including temp work, health care and the mining industry.
The construction sector, which can be sensitive to the weather, added 19,000 jobs.
Manufacturing shed 1,000 positions.
The labour force participation rate — the share of working-age adults who have a job or are looking for work — rose to 63.2 per cent in March. The figure remains near a 35-year low, partly reflecting retirement of baby boomers but also because frustrated job-seekers have simply dropped out of the workforce.
Meanwhile, 7.4 million were working part-time but would have preferred a full-time job, an increase of 225,000 from the prior month. Ms. Yellen earlier this week highlighted the large number of part-timers as evidence of slack in the labour market. “The existence of such a large pool of ‘partly unemployed’ workers is a sign that labour conditions are worse than indicated by the unemployment rate,” she said.
A broader measure of unemployment that includes people working part-time who want a full-time job and others who are marginally attached to the workforce edged higher to 12.7 per cent in March.
Friday’s report also said that average earnings slipped by 1 cent to US$24.30 an hour, while the average workweek increased 0.2 hour to 34.5 hours.
Higher wages and more hours mean additional money in consumers’ pockets.
