The U.S. economy brought back more jobs than expected in March, presaging even faster employment growth in the coming months as more Americans become vaccinated and jobs across industries return.
The Department of Labor released its March employment report Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main metrics in the report, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
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Change in non-farm payrolls: +916,000 vs. +660,000 expected and a revised +468,000 in February
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Unemployment rate: 6.0% vs. 6.0% expected and 6.2% in February
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Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: -0.1% vs. +0.1% expected and a revised +0.3% in February
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Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: 4.2% vs. +4.5% expected and a revised +5.2% in February
At 916,000, payrolls last month grew by the most since August. Payrolls for both January and February were also revised higher: January's payroll change was upwardly revised to 233,000 from the 166,000 previously reported, and February's job growth totaled 468,000, up from the 379,000 previously reported.
"It wasn't just the March jobs number that impressed, as January and February saw big revisions higher as well," Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial, said in an email Friday morning. "This is about as clear as it gets, the reopening is happening faster than nearly anyone expected."