Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 196,000 jobs in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, marking the country's 102nd straight month of employment gains.
The unemployment rate remained at 3.8%.
Employment gains were strongest in the healthcare industry, which added 49,000 jobs in March. The construction industry added 16,000 jobs, and has increased by 246,000 jobs in the past 12 months.
Here's how economists and others reacted to the jobs report on Twitter.
+196K jobs gained last month (mid-Feb to mid-Mar).
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) April 5, 2019
Continues longest streak of monthly job growth on record to 102 months.
Job growth turned positive Oct 2010.
We broke prior record, 48 months, in Oct 2014.
Longest streak of private-sector job growth too, since April 2010.
The bottom line:
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) April 5, 2019
-Hiring remains strong in the US.
-Little sign of an imminent recession.
-February's weak job growth number was an outlier.
-Wages growing above 3%. Inflation at about 1.5%.https://t.co/fksC6LwYtz #jobs #wages
Before you overreact to today's job creation number:
— Betsey Stevenson (@BetseyStevenson) March 8, 2019
-January's too high number was bound to be offset. We are not on a steady pace of 311K, closer to 200K, so look at the 3 month average.
-Good weather bolstered January, polar vortex=February
-The error in the report is +/-100K
Analysts all said the headline jobless number would be the most important factor for markets. But that's not the case - it's still about wages. The headline number was higher than expected, wage inflation disappointed. Bonds got a bit of a bid. https://t.co/qGAWb5z90Y
— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) April 5, 2019
Two warning signs in the March jobs report:
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) April 5, 2019
1. Manufacturing LOST 6,000 jobs last month
2. Wages rose 3.2%. That's down from 3.4% in March and a larger drop that most economists expected.https://t.co/jBz7oayl0x#jobs
While last month's overall jobs number is looking like a blip, manufacturing job growth really does seem to be slowing. Manufacturing jobs shrank in March after being flat in Feb,
— Josh Bivens (@joshbivens_DC) April 5, 2019
If employer demand for labor rises faster than new workers enter to supply, price (wage) should rise.
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) April 5, 2019
This month's estimate 3.2% growth over the year. That’s a blip down, a deceleration (3.4% last month) & a small, noisy signal of weakening. pic.twitter.com/NoIoGpKAVk
Average hourly wages would be $3.49 higher, if they had grown at the pre-recession rate of 3.5 percent. https://t.co/rmkqxzB3VX #JobsReport pic.twitter.com/f2mWbMXkTn
— Economic Policy Institute (@EconomicPolicy) April 5, 2019
What's notable about today's report is that it shows that the impressive streak of job-growth continues. Average monthly job growth:
— Betsey Stevenson (@BetseyStevenson) April 5, 2019
2010 +86K
2011 +173K
2012 +181K
2013 +192K
2014 +251K
2015 +227K
2016 +193K
2017 +179K
2018 +223K
2019 +180K
BLS #s today: women continue to outpace men in job growth by more than 2 to 1. Women gained 134,000 new jobs, men 62,000 for a total of 196,000 in March. #JobsReport @WSpriggs @IWPResearch @hshierholz
— Heidi Hartmann (@HeidiatIWPR) April 5, 2019
My least favorite tic:
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) April 5, 2019
1. During the Obama years, all good jobs numbers were met by political opponents calling the new jobs bad jobs.
2. During the Trump years, it's now Democrats making this claim.
These data don't tell us anything about the quality of the new jobs created.
To be really clear - today's jobs report inspires a bit of a sigh of relief relative to the disastrous February jobs number - but the economy is definitely going to grow a lot more slowly in 2019 than 2018, and you're starting to see that even in job growth numbers.
— Josh Bivens (@joshbivens_DC) April 5, 2019
This is a sigh-of-relief jobs report. Nothing spectacular, but good to see that the weak February number was an aberration.
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) April 5, 2019
