money US added 303,000 jobs in March, far more than expected
The US added 303,000 jobs in March, well above the 214,000 economists polled by Bloomberg were expecting. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.8%, which was in line with estimates and slightly lower than the 3.9% recorded in February. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% month-over-month. Year-over-year, average hourly earnings rose 4.1%, which matched expectations.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Stephanie Mikulich.
Video Transcript
SEANA SMITH: 303,000 jobs added to the US economy. Again, the expectation was for 214,000, so a beat by another wide margin. We're seeing that reaction right away in the futures market, coming off the highs there just a bit. And now, we're actually moving back to the upside here. But again, that headline number 303,000 unemployment rate ticking down a 10th of a percent from the prior reading at 3.8%, that was in line with the Street's expectations wages, hourly wages, on a month-over-month basis coming in in line with expectations, a gain of 3/10 of a percent.
The year-over-year change, or growth, I should say, is 4.1%. That's a bit lower, a bit softer, growth than what we saw last month of 4.3%. And again, when you take a look at some of the revisions here, which we know are so critical at this time, it looks like last month the jobs gain that we got was revised slightly lower 270,000 there. The initial reading was 275,000 last month. But again, the headline number this month once again showing the fact that the market, the labor market, remains extremely resilient and too strong, I think many people would say for the Fed's liking at this point.
- Yeah. I'm looking through some of the additional data where the job gains occurred most, healthcare, government, construction. Some of those sectors we're going to be breaking down as well with our team of reporters, our newsroom, all across this. Right now, buzzing. It's in a stir.
