The grisly details:
The unemployment rate nudged a tenth of a percent higher to 5.7 percent, based on a separate survey of U.S. households. Read the full release.
The gain in payrolls far exceeded the 122,000 expected by economists surveyed by CBS MarketWatch. Economists had been waiting in vain for months for hiring to pick up to match the explosive growth in U.S. gross domestic product over the past nine months. See Economic Calendar.
The surprising gain kneecapped the bond market. The 10-year note plunged by two full points, driving the yield higher by more than a quarter of a percentage point to 4.15 percent. Read more.
The sharp drop in the bond market began several minutes before the 8:30 a.m. release time, Bloomberg reported. Labor Department officials said they have noticed speculative activity ahead of previous payroll reports, but promised to look into whether the data was selectively released earlier.
Stock futures rallied on the news. The dollar rose by a full percentage point against the euro and the yen.See full story.
Economists said several technical factors would likely boost payrolls in March, including the end of the grocery strike and the return to more seasonable weather.
Payroll growth in previous months was also revised higher, by a total of 86,000 jobs. January's gain was revised from 97,000 to 159,000 while February's was revised to 46,000 from 21,000.
Over the past eight months, payrolls have grown by 759,000, about 95,000 a month. The economy needs to create about 130,000 to 150,000 jobs a month to absorb population growth.
The White House estimated in February that payrolls would grow by an average of more than 300,000 each month this year.
The Federal Reserve held off on raising interest rates two weeks ago, arguing that hiring was lagging. While one month of strong payroll growth is not likely to persuade the Federal Open Market Committee to tighten monetary policy, higher rates could follow quickly if March's gains are matched or exceeded in April, May and into the summer months.
For the first time in 44 months, employment in the manufacturing sector did not fall; it was unchanged. Construction added 71,000 jobs, likely a partial rebound from bad weather in February.
Payrolls in services rose by 230,000 jobs, including 47,000 in retail. Temporary help services jobs fell by 2,000.
Private payrolls rose by 277,000, as 31,000 government jobs were added, most in education.
Of 278 industries, 61 percent reported higher payrolls in March, the largest percentage since July 2000.
Despite the increase in jobs, hours worked in the economy fell by 0.1 percent. The average workweek also fell by a tenth of an hour to 33.7 hours. Hours worked in the manufacturing fell 0.3 percent, with a drop of 0.1 percentage points in the average workweek to 40.9.
Average hourly earnings rose 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $15.54 an hour.
While the payroll survey of 400,000 business establishments painted a rosy portrait of the U.S. labor market, the separate survey of 66,000 households was not as positive.
Total employment fell by 3,000 while unemployment rose by 182,000 to 8.35 million. The labor participation rate was unchanged at 65.9 percent.
The number of workers who've been jobless for longer than six months rose to 1.99 million, representing 23.9 percent of all unemployed workers. The figures do not count those who've stopped looking for work.
The average duration of unemployment fell to 20.1 weeks from 20.3 weeks. The median duration of unemployment was steady at 10.3 weeks.
cbs.marketwatch.com. |
