Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 178k; unemployment rate changed little at 4.3 percent
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 178,000 in March, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing. Federal government employment continued to decline.
Both the unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.2 million, changed little in March. These measures also changed little over the year.
The number of people employed part time for economic reasons, at 4.5 million, changed little in March. These individuals would have preferred full-time employment but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.
In January, the number of people not in the labor force who currently want a job changed little at 6.0 million in March. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job.
Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of people marginally attached to the labor force increased by 325,000 in March to 1.9 million. These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, increased by 144,000 in March to 510,000.
INDUSTRY FOCUS(Establishment Survey Data)
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Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 178,000 in March, following a decrease in February (-133,000). Job gains occurred in health care, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing. Federal government employment continued to decline. Payroll employment had changed little on net over the prior 12 months.
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Health care added 76,000 jobs in March. Employment in ambulatory health care services rose by 54,000, reflecting an increase of 35,000 in offices of physicians as workers returned from a strike. Job growth in health care averaged 29,000 over the prior 12 months.
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Employment in social assistance continued its upward trend in March (+14,000), primarily in individual and family services (+11,000).
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Construction added 26,000 jobs in March but had shown little net change over the prior 12 months.
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In March, federal government employment continued to decline (-18,000). Since reaching a peak in October 2024, federal government employment is down by 355,000, or 11.8 percent.
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Financial activities employment declined by 15,000 in March, reflecting a loss in finance and insurance (-16,000). Employment in financial activities is down by 77,000 since reaching a peak in May 2025.
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Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; information; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.