MNI DATA IMPACT: US March Payrolls Up By Most Since August

U.S. job growth surged in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, rising by the most since August as the nation's vaccine rollout quickened and additional federal aid injected business and consumer confidence into the economy. Further relaxation of Covid business restrictions fueled huge gains in leisure and hospitality.

Employers added 916,000 jobs in March, far above the 650,000 increase forecast by the Bloomberg consensus. February's 379,000 gain was revised up to 468,000.

Private payrolls were up 780,000, led by a 280,000 increase in leisure and hospitality. Smaller increases came from construction (+110,000), education and health services (+101,000), and professional and business services (+66,000). Government payrolls were up 136,000 after falling 90,000 in February, reflecting increases in local and state government education as more schools transitioned from online to in-person learning.

Average hourly earnings fell 0.1% over the month, a sign that lower-wage service-sector workers are returning to the labor market. From a year earlier, wages were up 4.2%. The length of the average workweek rose by three-tenths to 34.9 hours.

The participation rate ticked up by a tenth to 61.5%, the first increase since October. The employment-population ratio also increased, rising to 57.8 from 57.6 in February.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 6% from 6.2%, the lowest in a year, though still much higher than 3.5% pre-pandemic. Among the unemployed, the number of people on temporary layoff fell by 203,000 to 2 million, while the number of permanent job losers was little changed in March at 3.4 million.

The median duration of unemployment shot up to 21.6 weeks in March from 18.3 weeks in February. Long-term unemployment, or those jobless for six months or more, was roughly unchanged at 4.2 million, accounting for 43.4% of the total unemployed.

The number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 6.9 million but was up 1.8 million from last February. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work sometime in the last four weeks.

The U-6 rate, which accounts for discouraged workers, fell to 10.7% from 11.1% in February.