Economic Data and Growth

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 178,000 in March, coming in well above expectations. On the other hand, January and February’s collective job gains were revised downward by 7,000 to a gain of 160,000 jobs and a loss of 133,000 jobs, respectively. The industries with the most significant job gains in March were health care, construction and leisure and hospitality, each recouping the losses they incurred in February. The 12-month average stands at just 22,000 job gains per month. At the same time, the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage point from February to 4.3% in March, while the labor force participation rate ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 61.9%.

Manufacturing employment rose by 15,000 in March after declining by 6,000 in February. Meanwhile, the collective job losses in January and February of 7,000 were revised downward by 3,000 jobs to a decrease of 4,000 jobs. Despite the uptick in March, manufacturing employment is still down 74,000 over the year. Durable goods manufacturing employment climbed by 15,000 in March, while nondurable goods employment stayed the same. The most significant gain in manufacturing in March occurred in transportation equipment manufacturing, which added 6,500 jobs over the month. Meanwhile, the most significant loss occurred in chemical manufacturing, which shed 5,200 jobs over the month.

The employment-population ratio edged down 0.1 percentage point from February to 59.2% in March and is down 0.7 percentage points from a year ago. Meanwhile, employed persons who are part-time workers for economic reasons rose by 101,000 from February to 4.5 million in March but are down from 4.8 million in March 2025. Native-born employment is down 194,000 from February and 395,000 over the year. Meanwhile, foreign-born employment is up 806,000 over the month but down 251,000 over the year. At the same time, the native-born unemployment rate is up 0.1 percentage point over the year to 4.3% in March, while the foreign-born unemployment rate is down 0.1 percentage point to 4.3%.

Average hourly earnings for all private nonfarm payroll employees rose 0.2%, or 9 cents, reaching $37.38. Over the past year, earnings have grown 3.5%. The average workweek for all employees ticked down by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours but stayed the same at 40.2 hours for manufacturing employees.