The US economy added 303,000 jobs, primarily in healthcare, government, construction, leisure and tourism, and retail sectors.
The US economy generated 303,000 new non-agricultural jobs during March, a figure higher than the 270,000 created in February. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell one tenth, to 3.8%, according to data published this Friday by the Department of Labor.
The US labor market has accelerated and has now created jobs for 39 consecutive months. March 2024 job creation was above the average of the last twelve months, of 231,000 new positions.
Hiring expanded mainly in the health, government, construction, leisure and tourism, and retail sectors, while it showed little change in mining, industry, oil and gas extraction, or wholesale trade, among others.
In addition, the Labor Department revised the January read upward by 27,000 jobs, from 229,000 to 256,000, but corrected the February reading downward by 5,000, from 275,000 to 270,000. After these revisions, 22,000 jobs emerged compared to what was previously reported.
The unemployment rate stood at 3.8% in March, one tenth less than the previous month and three tenths more than in March 2023. US unemployment has been hovering around 3.7% and 3.9% since August 2023.
The number of unemployed reached 6.43 million in the third month of the year, compared to 6.46 million in February, including 1.25 million long-term unemployed (those without work for 27 weeks or more) who represented 19.4% of the total unemployed.
For its part, the number of people employed part-time for economic reasons fell by 68,000, to 4.3 million. Likewise, the labor force participation rate stood at 62.7%, two tenths more.
VACANT JOBS
This Tuesday, the Labor Department also reported that the number of vacant jobs in the US fell in February to 8.75 million. The number of jobs available in the second month of the year represented 8,000 fewer vacancies compared to the previous month and a reduction of 1.09 million positions in annual terms.
Openings in the private sector fell in February to 7.86 million from 7.90 million in January, while in the public sector 901,000 free positions were registered, 55,000 more than in the previous month.
Job offers decreased in February in the information sector (-85,000) and the federal administration (-21,000). By contrast, job openings increased in finance and insurance (126,000), state and local governments minus education (91,000), and arts and entertainment (-21,000).
An increase in hiring was also observed in February, amounting to 5,818 million, compared to 5,698 million in January, but below the 6,058 million in February 2023.
SUBSIDY REQUESTS
Initial applications for unemployment benefits in the US reached a total of 221,000 last week, 9,000 people more than the previous read.
In the week ending March 23, recipients of these benefits totaled 1.79 million, equivalent to a decrease in the number of beneficiaries of 19,000 people, compared to 1.81 million the previous week. In the same comparable period of 2023, unemployed with benefits reached 1.70 million.
The main increases in unemployment benefits took place in Texas (2,274), Missouri (1,312), Oregon (940), Illinois (788) and Ohio (785), while the most pronounced falls were registered in Michigan (-1,322), California (-538), Mississippi (-443), Connecticut (-440) and Iowa (-423).
