Payrolls rise 162,000, best gain in three years
Excluding Census workers, U.S. payrolls rise by 114,000 in March
U.S. ISM manufacturing index rises to 6-year high
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. economy created 162,000 jobs in March, the largest seasonally adjusted increase in nonfarm payrolls in three years, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls rose for just the second time in the past 27 months, boosted by the hiring of 48,000 temporary workers to conduct the Census. Excluding the Census workers, payrolls rose by 114,000.
The unemployment rate was steady at 9.7%, with the labor force rising by 398,000.
The report was largely in line with expectations. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were forecasting a 200,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls, with about half of those coming from temporary hires at the Census Bureau. Economists expected the unemployment rate to remain at 9.7%.
Ahead of the report, economists cautioned against reading too much into it, in light of the temporary hiring by the Census and the likely rebound from two massive snowstorms during the survey week in February.
Despite the special factors in March, "the underlying story is one of continued, moderate economic growth," said John Silvia, chief economist for Wells Fargo Securities.
A year ago, payrolls were falling by an average of more than 700,000 per month. Since the recession began in December 2007, 8.2 million jobs have been lost.
Payroll gains were broad based, with 60% of all industries adding workers in March.
Goods-producing industries' payrolls rose by 41,000, the first increase since March 2007. Manufacturing payrolls increased by 17,000. Construction employment rose by 15,000. Manufacturing hours increased by half an hour to 41 hours per week, with 3.7 hours of overtime on average.
Service-producing industries added 121,000, including 39,000 in government.
The average workweek increased by two-tenths of an hour to 33.3 hours. Total hours worked rose by 0.7%, reversing the storm-related 0.6% decline in February.
Average hourly earnings fell by 2 cents, or 0.1%, to $18.90. It was the first decline in earnings on record, dating to 2006.
Long-term unemployment worsened in March. Of the 15 million people officially classified as unemployed, a record 6.5 million, or 44.1%, had been out of work longer than six months.
The U6 alternative gauge of the unemployment rate, which includes discouraged workers and those forced to work part-time, rose to 16.9% from 16.8%.
Drilling down
According to a survey of 400,000 business establishments, private-service producing industries added 121,000 jobs. Temporary-help jobs, a sign of future hiring, rose by 40,000 in March, pushing the total increase in this category to more than 300,000 since September.
Health care added 27,000 jobs.
According to the survey of 60,000 households, employment rose by 264,000 to 138.9 million, keeping pace with the 398,000 increase in the labor force. The participation rate rose a tenth to 64.9%. Unemployment rose by 134,000 to stand at 15 million.
The number of people working on a part-time basis because of the slack economy rose to 9.1 million. One million workers were counted as discouraged workers.
Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch. |
