The United States adds 196,000 jobs in March; Unemployment at 3.8%

The Ministry of Labor released Friday morning its monthly figures on recruitment and employment for March, providing an important snapshot of the US economy.

• 196,000 jobs were added last month, a rebound from the February report, which showed a gain of only 20,000. Economic analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a gain of about 170,000 jobs in March. It was the 102nd consecutive month of job gains.

• The Labor Department also revised the number of jobs for January and February. The economy added 33,000 new jobs in February, up 13,000. There was also a slight upward revision of 1,000 jobs in January to 312,000.

• The unemployment rate for March was 3.8%, the same as in February.

• Average hourly earnings in March were 3.2% higher than the previous year. This compares with a gain of 3.4% from one year to the next in February.

Everyone can relax.

The strong job gains that are currently defining the current economic expansion resumed in March. The hiring gain, although largely anticipated, will dispel some of the doubts that hang over the economy. While the economy is expected to slow this year from the steady pace of 2018, Friday's report was an encouraging sign that job creation remains robust.

The big picture

The US economy continues to experience one of its the longest recorded enlargements. It has generated nearly 21 million jobs since the trough of the job market in 2010 and the unemployment rate, which peaked at 10% in October 2009.

But in recent months, doubts have increased. The invigorating effects of the tax cuts adopted at the end of 2017 should be mitigated. Major overseas economies have slowed, partly because of continuing trade tensions. And while the stock market has picked up steam since the defeat of the end of last year, other important financial indicators, such as government bond yields, suggest that investors expect a moderate growth.

Most economists dismissed February's anemic job report, saying that this number could have been affected by the cold weather and the partial closure of the federal government. In recent years, the low number of monthly jobs has generally been followed rebound.

Several economic indicators published since the February report suggest that the economy was still able to create 150,000 jobs or more per month. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit for the first time has declined to levels not seen in decades, and recent surveys of the construction and manufacturing industries do not indicate that employers are withdrawing.

The wages of growth

For years, even as the economy created jobs and unemployment continued to fall, wage increases were bleak. But employees now seem to be getting solid increases. The 3.4% increase recorded in February in February is more than double the annual inflation rate of the month.

With unemployment at a historic low, employers must offer higher wages and more attractive benefits to attract workers. Julia Pollak, labor economist at ZipRecruiter, a job search company, said this was reflected in job postings on her company's website. In March, 34% of openings announced on ZipRecruiter had advantages, compared to 19% a year earlier.

"And the range of benefits is increasing," Pollak said.

Regular wage growth can be the catalyst that contributes to continued economic expansion: higher wages encourage more spending and companies that want to meet this additional demand must hire more people.