**MNI DATA IMPACT: US March Payrolls 196k; Earnings +0.1%>

--February Payrolls Rev Up To 33k, January Jobs Rev Up to 312k

By Kevin Kastner, Shikha Dave and Harrison Clarke

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - Payrolls growth was stronger than expected in 

March, following a small upward revision to the very weak February data 

and slight upward revision to the sharp January gain. The unemployment 

rate remained at 3.8%. 

     However, it was not all good news. Hourly earnings growth was 

much weaker than expected, pulling the year/year down to 3.2%. 

     Here are some of the key takeaways from the data released Friday: 

     - March payrolls data were moderately stronger than expected and 

followed upward revisions to February and January. Payrolls posted a 

196,000 gain compared with the 175,000 Bloomberg consensus and the 

170,000 gain expected by an MNI survey. This followed small upward 

revisions to February (+33k vs +20k prev) and January (+312k vs +311k 

prev) for a net upward revision of 14,000. 

     - Hourly earnings rose only 0.1% after an unrevised 0.4% February 

gain. The Bloomberg consensus and MNI surveys both looked for 0.3% gain. 

As a result, the year/year rate for earnings fell to 3.2% from 3.4% in 

the previous month. Average hours worked rebound to 34.5 hours in March 

after dipping to 34.4 hours in February. 

     - The unemployment rate remained at 3.8%, as expected, after 

falling to that point in February, but the labor force participation 

rate fell to 63.0 from 63.2%. The size of the labor force fell by 

224,000, with the number of employed and unemployed both falling. 

     - Private payrolls rose by 182,000 in March, compared with a 

177,000 increase expected by Bloomberg and a 165,000 gain expected in an 

MNI survey, with education and health services and professional and 

business services jobs among the key gains. Retail jobs and 

manufacturing payrolls both declined in the month. 

     ** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 ** 

[TOPICS: MAUDS$,M$U$$$,MAUDR$]