Blog

The Economy Adds 215,000 Jobs in March, and Unemployment Is Essentially Unchanged at 5.0%

The U.S. economy added 215,000 jobs in March and unemployment was 5.0%, essentially unchanged from February, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This continues the record string of months with job growth.

In response to the March jobs numbers, AFL-CIO Chief Economist William Spriggs tweeted the following:

Last month’s biggest job gains were in retail trade (48,000), health care (37,000), construction (37,000), food services and drinking places (25,000), and financial activities (15,000). The mining industry and manufacturing saw losses. According to BLS, other major industries, including wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and government, changed little over the month.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.5%), adult women (4.6%), teenagers (15.9%), whites (4.3 %), blacks (9.0%), Asians (4.0%) and Hispanics (5.6%) showed little or no change.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 2.2 million in March and accounted for 27.6% of the unemployed.