March 2018 Jobs Review
Snapshot
? Adjustments for seasonal variation and bad weather may explain the low jobs number.
? The unemployment rate (U-3) has held at 4.1% for 6 consecutive months, the lowest since 2000.
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DETAILS
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that 103,000 jobs were added in March, of which 102,000 were private sector jobs. The largest gains were in professional and business services (+33,000), education and health services (+25,000), and manufacturing (+22,000). Job losses were recorded in construction (-15,000), retail trade (-4,400), and other services (-1,000) industries. The government sector added 1,000 jobs. |
The overall labor force participation rate (LFPR) ticked down from 63.0% to 62.9%. The employment-to-population ratio was unchanged at 60.4%. Although the prime working-age (25 to 54) LFPR ticked down to 82.1% this March, that was after it had surged from 81.8% to 82.2% last month. Overall, it remains short of its 83% average from the previous business cycle’s expansion.[1] |
The headline unemployment rate (U-3), which counts as unemployed those who searched for work in the last four weeks, has held at 4.1% for six consecutive months, the lowest since 2000.[2] The “real” unemployment rate (U-6) fell from 8.2% to 8.0%. This includes those in U-3, those who searched for work in the past twelve months, and those who want full-time work but can only find part-time work. |
Average hourly earnings (AHE) and average weekly earnings (AWE) of production and nonsupervisory workers[3] were 2.4% and 2.7% higher than 12 months ago, respectively.[4] An AWE growth rate that exceeds the AHE growth rate indicates that people are working more hours per week since last year. AHE and AWE each increased an average of 3% per year, compared with averages of only 2.2% and 2.4% in the current expansion, respectively. |