The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that in March, 88,000 payrolls were created across the nation, a significantly slower pace than in the last three months (Decemberâ??February), which had averaged 212,000 new jobs per month.
Some sectors continued sizeable gains in March despite the lackluster headline number of new jobs: professional and business services added 51,000 jobs. Construction added 18,000, but manufacturing shed 3,000 jobs (making the "net" number of jobs coming from the goods-producing section in the chart 15,000). Leisure and hospitality added 17,000 jobs in March.
Additional detail:
- A silver lining in the March BLS report came from revisions to January and February's original payroll growth estimates. January's payroll creation was originally estimated to be 119,000 but was revised upward to 148,000, an improvement of 29,000 jobs. February's original job creation was thought to be 236,000 but was revised upward to 268,000, an improvement of 32,000 jobs.