Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 103,000 new jobs in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, marking the country's 90th straight month of employment gains. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1% for the sixth consecutive month.
While the number of jobs added was down significantly compared to February, when 313,000 jobs were added, economists largely cautioned against overreaction and suggested this is exactly what should be expected at this stage of the business cycle.
Job losses were heaviest in the real estate-related sectors of retail and construction. Retail trade employment was down 4,000 in March after increasing by 47,000 in February. Construction jobs fell by 15,000 last month after showing a large gain in February, when the industry reported 65,000 jobs were added.
Here are some of the reactions from economists and others on Twitter.
+103K. Welp, what Jobs Day giveth, Jobs Day taketh away.
— Ernie Tedeschi (@ernietedeschi) April 6, 2018
This morning’s #jobsreport showed the economy added 103,000 jobs in March—a significant drop from the 326,000 added the month prior. February’s number was likely boosted by relatively mild weather, while the March number was likely depressed by weather, as well. @EconomicPolicy
— Elise Gould (@eliselgould) April 6, 2018
Job growth over the year is steady. Economy added 2.26 million jobs over last 12 months. Similar to the prior year (2.28M) but less than the prior 2 years.
— Aaron Sojourner (@aaronsojourner) April 6, 2018
The longest streak of job creation on record, 8.5 years this month, chugs on. pic.twitter.com/YUmCndcY4T
There is no question that employment growth is slowing. pic.twitter.com/hc6pIgIA3m
— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) April 6, 2018
Wage growth (nominal) still on trend (see 6-mo rolling avg). Less acceleration than you'd expect given tight job market--I'll explain my take in my report out soon. But punchline: no inflationary wage pressure in these data. pic.twitter.com/Mfganfeehl
— Jared Bernstein (@econjared) April 6, 2018
Weather probably hurt the payroll number in March. Excluding weather-sensitive sectors, job gains in March were only modestly below the norm of recent months. Weather-sensitive sectors lost jobs. pic.twitter.com/eLCdPLWrMM
— Jed Kolko (@JedKolko) April 6, 2018
The reason why wage growth is weak has likely little or nothing to do with competition - it is about workers having little bargaining power which would not be the case if the economy was anywhere close to full employment
— Danny Blanchflower (@D_Blanchflower) April 6, 2018
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