USA added 215000 jobs in March, but unemployment rate ticked up to 5 % (updated April 2, 2016)
The U.S. economy continued to add jobs at a healthy pace in March, a sign of the domestic labour market’s resilience despite economic turmoil overseas.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 215,000 in March, the Labour Department said Friday. The unemployment rate, obtained from a separate survey of U.S. households, edged up to 5.0 % in March from 4.9 %.
A broad measure of unemployment that includes Americans stuck in part-time jobs or too discouraged to look for work rose slightly to 9.8 % from 9.7 % in February, when it reached its lowest level since 2008.
Revisions showed employers added 1000 fewer jobs in January and February than previously estimated. Over the past three months, job gains have averaged 209000.
Meanwhile, the share of Americans participating in the labour force rose to 63.0 % in March. The measure bottomed out at 62.4 % in September—the lowest level since 1977—but has crept up steadily as more people joined the workforce or began searching for work.
Manufacturers shed 29000 jobs in March, after losing 18000 in February. Employment in mining and logging, a sector that includes the oil and gas industry, fell by 12000 in March after a loss of 17000 in February.
Average hourly earnings of private-sector workers rose by seven cents last month to USD 25.43, following a two-cent drop in February. Wages rose 0.3% from the prior month, matching economists’ expectations, and have climbed 2.3% from a year earlier.