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Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 228,000 in March, well above expectations. On the other hand, February and January’s job gains were each revised downward by 14,000. The 12-month average stands at 156,750 job gains per month. The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1% to 4.2%, while the labor force participation rate also inched up 0.1% to 62.5%.

Manufacturing employment ticked up by 1,000, but the February gain of 10,000 was revised downward by 2,000 jobs to an increase of 8,000. The most significant gains in manufacturing in March occurred in miscellaneous manufacturing, which added 2,100 jobs over the month, recovering some of the 2,900 jobs lost in February. Meanwhile, the most significant losses occurred in fabricated metal product manufacturing, which shed 1,600 jobs over the month.

The employment-population ratio stayed the same at 59.9% but is down 0.4 percentage points from a year ago. Employed persons who are part-time workers for economic reasons decreased by 157,000 to 4.78 million but are up from 4.31 million in March 2024. Native-born employment is up 329,000 over the month and 944,000 over the year. Meanwhile, foreign-born employment is up 538,000 over the month and 1,111,000 over the year.

Average hourly earnings for all private nonfarm payroll employees rose 0.3%, or 9 cents, reaching $36.00. Over the past year, earnings have grown 3.8%. The average workweek for all employees stayed the same at 34.2 hours but inched up 0.1 hour for manufacturing employees to 40.2 hours.