US registers strong job growth in March; unemployment rate at 4.3%
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The unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 4.3 per cent in March, the US Labour Department said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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- US economy added 178,000 jobs in March, exceeding expectations and dropping unemployment to 4.3%, according to the Labor Department.
- Healthcare and construction sectors drove job growth; federal government employment declined 11.8% since October 2024 due to cost-cutting measures.
- Despite concerns about the US-Israel war affecting the economy, the job data may support Trump's economic policies, despite trade uncertainties.
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WASHINGTON - The US economy posted unexpectedly strong job gains in March, government data showed Friday, in a shift that could ease labour market concerns and boost US President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
The world’s largest economy gained 178,000 jobs in March, after losing 133,000 in February, and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 4.3 per cent, the Labour Department said.
April 3’s data significantly beat analyst expectations, with economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal expecting an increase of 59,000 jobs.
Much of the recovery was fueled by jobs in the health care sector, which has remained resilient even as labour demand has dropped across many sectors of the US economy.
Health care added 76,000 jobs in March, after having lost jobs the month before, in part due to strike actions.
Employment in construction also grew by 26,000 in March, although the US Labour Department flagged that it had changed little from its level a year ago.
Federal government employment continued to decline.
Mr Trump has taken a hatchet to the sector in a drive aimed at cost-cutting and reducing the size of government. Employment in the sector was down 11.8 per cent since October 2024, the data showed.
The new data reflected a revision in the figures for January and February, showing employment for those two months combined was 7,000 lower than previously reported.
Ahead of the data, analysts had expected a more modest increase in jobs.
“We expect solid growth in headline nonfarm payrolls in March, but don’t expect the report to ease concerns among Federal Reserve officials that the labour market has become more vulnerable due to the US-Israel war with Iran,” said Oxford Economics lead economist Nancy Vanden Houten.
The war in the Middle East has sent oil prices surging and snarled supply chains, leading to fears of economic slowdown around the world, including in the US.
Uncertainty about the duration and intensity of the shock has so far led policymakers at the Federal Reserve to adopt a wait-and-see approach on interest rate moves.
Unemployment rates have remained relatively steady in the US – but the figure has hidden churn under the surface, analysts warn, as weak jobs growth has been matched by a drop in labour supply.
That drop in supply is largely attributed to Mr Trump’s crackdown on immigration and widespread deportation efforts.
Mr Trump will take heart from April 3’s jobs figures, as he has claimed to have turned the US economy around, despite enacting tariff and other policies that have upended global trade relationships and led to greater uncertainty for businesses. AFP
