Unemployment rate drops to 3.81 TP3T as job market heats up

Employers added 303,000 jobs in March, exceeding expectations of 200,000, the latest sign that the U.S. economy is staying strong, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a report released Friday. Analysts also revised upward the first two months of job growth by 22,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.8% from 3.9% in February, hovering near a 50-year low. The unemployment rate fell despite 469,000 people joining the workforce in search of jobs, pushing the labor force participation rate up to 62.7% from 62.5%.

Wages continue to grow at a steady pace, with average hourly earnings increasing by 0.31 TP3T from February to March and by 4.11 TP3T year-over-year, which is a real increase even when inflation is discounted. Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector has finally returned to pre-pandemic levels, four years after being decimated by Covid-19.

The White House celebrated the latest in a series of good economic news." In a statement, President Biden of Massachusetts said, "Today's report marks a milestone in America's comeback." Three years ago, I took over an economy that was on the verge of collapse. Today's report shows that 303,000 new jobs were created in March, a milestone in the 15 million jobs created since I took office.

What the experts say Axios' Neil Irwin marveled at the latest economic snapshot." He writes, "If you walked into a reality room and tried to design the perfect jobs report, you'd be hard-pressed to come up with anything better than the one the Labor Department released at 8:30 a.m. EST on Friday.

Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer of the Independent Advisor Alliance, said the report "dispels fears of an economic slowdown." He wrote, "This morning's blowout jobs numbers show that the economy is not showing any signs of slowing down. Not only is the job market not weakening, it may be picking up speed, said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets." He wrote in a research note: "The U.S. labor market appears to be strengthening, not slowing.

Some economists attribute the job strength, at least in part, to higher-than-expected immigration, and Mohamed A. El-Erian, former chief executive officer of PIMCO, noted the rise in the labor force participation rate, which he said was "consistent with favorable domestic supply-side influences that have fueled U.S. economic peculiarities relative to most other advanced countries in the current period. The current economic peculiarities of the United States vis-à-vis most other advanced countries," he said.

Former Obama administration economist Jason Furman agreed, saying the latest data provide "more evidence that the high employment growth is due to the growth of the high-labor-age population."

What will the Fed do?The only problem with the solid jobs report is that it may have prompted the Fed to postpone a widely expected rate cut. JPMorgan Chase (JPMorgan Chase) first mat U.S. economist Dr. Michael Feroli (Michael Feroli) said he thinks the data suggests that interest rate cuts will be delayed again, and that Fed officials are more likely to push through a rate cut in July than in June.

Dallas Fed matriarch Lorie Logan said Friday that there is a "significant risk" that inflation could approach 3% instead of the central bank's target rate of 2%. As a result, she argued that "it's too soon to consider a rate cut ".

Like what you're reading? Sign up for ourFree NewsletterThe