WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers notched another solid month of hiring in March by adding 215,000 jobs, driven by large gains in the construction, retail and health care industries.
Despite the jump, the Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate ticked up to 5 percent from 4.9 percent. But that increase includes some good news: more Americans came off the sidelines to look for work, though not all found jobs.
The figures suggest that employers remain confident enough in their business prospects to add staff, even as overall growth has slowed since last winter. Many analysts estimate that the economy grew at a 1 percent annual rate or below in the first quarter. Continuing job gains indicate that employers may see the slowdown as temporary.
Steady hiring is also contributing to higher pay, which rose a modest 2.3 percent from a year earlier to $25.43. That figure has increased since the early years of the recovery, but is below a peak of 2.6 percent reached in December.
Sluggish wage growth has been a weak spot in the economy and a source of frustration for many workers since the Great Recession ended in 2009. Paychecks typically grow at a 3.5 percent pace in a strong economy.
Construction firms added 37,000 jobs, likely aided by warmer weather. That helped offset another month of job losses in manufacturing, which has been hit by slower growth overseas, and mining, which includes the oil and gas drilling sector. Low oil prices have cost that industry 185,000 since September 2014.
More jobs can help fuel consumer spending, which is a critical source of growth this year. Other potential drivers of the economy, such as exports and business investment, have weakened.
Consumer spending has faltered since last winter after healthy gains in 2015. Spending ticked up just 0.1 percent in February for the third month in a row. That tepid trend caused many economists to slash their growth forecasts.
Americans appear to be pocketing much of their savings from lower gas prices rather than spending them. The savings rate rose to 5.4 percent in February, the highest in a year.
Other economic data has been unusually mixed. Several reports suggest that manufacturers may be stabilizing after a difficult 2015, when weak overseas growth and the strong dollar hurt production.
Americans have pulled back a bit from home-buying. Sales of existing homes fell a sharp 7.1 percent in February, held back by a lack of available supply that has pushed up prices.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Good job, Mr. President, except the rule is only GOP presidents create jobs, not Dem ones… and certainly not Kenyan ones.
Year over Year change in number of Private Payroll jobs created…2.681 million jobs…
57th consecutive month the Year over Year change has been above 2 million jobs…last business cycle
saw only 17 consecutive months of yoy 2 million plus gains…
"Sluggish wage growth has been a weak spot in the economy and a source of frustration for many workers since the Great Recession ended in 2009. "
Sluggish wage growth has been a weak spot in the economy and a source of frustration for many workers since the mid-1970’s.
FIFY
the only bright spot to republican obstructionism and insistence on austerity, is that the spickets of government spending haven’t yet been turned on fully, specifically speaking of infrastructure.
with the economic recovery so far despite GOP obstruction, it is really teed up for adding the governments side to really get things moving.
this is reason #9467 we need to win 2016 and we all need to cut the shit regarding attacking each other over our prefrences in the primary (alas, candidates themselves will do what they do)
Not everyone is a Bernie bro or Hill-not because they feel strongly an advocate that way. (no doubt they exist to some degree)
the long, closer than expected campaign, a candidate holding on despite not impossible but improbable to overcome delegate deficit, and some discomfort and attacks and strife between two sides of the party is very similar to 2008. that worked out fine, actually beneficial IMO.
we are all voting for the same person in November (regardless of venting of frustration over the course of the campaign, from both sides). I think we all chill a bit.
Why are we throwing that ladder away? That looks like a perfectly good ladder.