March Jobs Report: According to the new job report also known as the Employment Situation Summary, released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for March, United States employers added 236,000 jobs in March, coming in below expectations of 239,000 jobs forecast by economists and also below the 311,000 jobs created in February.
What is The Jobs report?
The jobs report which is usually released on the first Friday of every month is based on surveys of households and employers. It usually estimates the number of people on payrolls in the United States economy, the average number of hours they worked weekly, as well as their average hourly earnings.
The jobs report provides estimates by state and metropolitan area, and by industry. The report also tallies the hours worked and earnings of production and non-supervisory employees.
Layoffs in March
Before the release of the March Jobs Report companies had reported that layoffs surged in March, up nearly 400% than it was last year, while jobless claims were elevated and private payroll growth also appeared to slow. The Labor Department also reported that job openings fell below 10 million in February for the first time in nearly two years.
In less than four months countless companies such as Bed Bath & Beyond laid off about 1,000 staff. Walmart also joined the list of big companies that are planning to lay staff, this led to massive job cuts at Walmart, Glassdoor, and Amazon announcing that the company will cut another 9,000 jobs across its global business, after announcing it had expanded staff-cutting plans to affect more than 18,000 workers, Facebook’s parent company, “META” reported 11,000 job cuts announced since November and the 10,000 announced recently, Citigroup, Twitter just to mention a few have all fired staffs to cut excess expenses.
Government as a Major Employer
March’s job growth was the smallest monthly increase since December 2020, but was still a good increase, one of the largest employers of jobs in March was the government, which went higher by 47,000 last month. This has led to criticism as most economists are saying this is bad for any nation’s economy. The government should not be focused on being the employer like it happens in socialist countries. Within the government sectors, local governments added 26,000 to the notable hiring gains while state governments added 13,000.
Unemployment Rate so far
The unemployment rate went low to 3.5%, against expectations that it might hold as high as 3.6% and indicating that the labor market is cooling off amid the Federal Reserve’s yearlong rate-hiking campaign to chill inflation.
- The leisure and hospitality sector added 72,000 workers.
- The bars and restaurants sector added 50,300 workers.
- The hotel sector added 5,200 workers
- Amusement, gambling, and recreation places added 10,900 workers.
- Healthcare added 33,900 workers
- Social assistance added 16,900 workers
- Transportation and warehousing added 10,400 workers
- Private education added 14,600 workers
Fed Rates Hike
The labor market in the March Jobs Report shows no fresh signs of deterioration with minimal job layoffs despite the news of big tech firings over the last several months, and this will harden the resolve of Fed officials to slow economic demand down with higher interest rates. Though it was close to what economists had expected, the March Jobs Report comes amid efforts from the Federal Reserve to slow labor demand to cool inflation.
The New York Fed said the spread between 3-month and 10-year Treasury is indicating about a 58% probability of recession in the next 12 months. The Atlanta Fed’s GDP tracker is indicating growth of just 1.5% in the first quarter, after pointing to a gain of as much as 3.5% just two weeks ago.