Key takeaways:
- Payrolls rebounded strongly in March: BLS reported nonfarm employment rose by 178,000 jobs, led by health care workers returning from a physicians’ strike. But February was revised down sharply to -133,000, nearly 45,000 worse than first reported.
- Temporary help services added 4,400 jobs in March after an essentially flat February, but the sector remains roughly 54,000 positions below its year-ago level, keeping the long-term erosion trend intact.
- Private sector hiring stayed concentrated: ADP counted 62,000 private-sector jobs added, with small businesses and education/health services driving nearly all gains, while the job-changer pay premium recovered from its record low.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 178,000 in March, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The gain follows a sharply revised February (originally reported as -92,000 and now revised to -133,000) and a January that was revised up by 34,000 to +160,000. With both revisions applied, employment in January and February combined is 7,000 lower than previously reported.
Health care led the March rebound, adding 76,000 jobs as workers returned from a strike that had pulled 35,000 positions out of physicians’ offices the month before. Hospitals added another 15,000. Construction contributed 26,000 jobs, and transportation and warehousing added 21,000, with couriers and messengers accounting for most of that gain. Federal government employment kept shrinking, shedding 18,000 more positions in March. Since peaking in October 2024, federal employment is down 355,000, a contraction of 11.8%.
Temporary help services are stabilizing, but still in the hole
Temporary help services added 4,400 jobs in March, according to BLS, after coming in nearly flat in February. (February’s temp help figure was revised from a loss of approximately 6,500 to a loss of just 100 positions.)
The sector reached 2,474,500 positions seasonally adjusted, a modest step forward after months of volatile swings. A year ago, temporary help employment stood at 2,528,300, leaving roughly 54,000 positions the sector hasn’t recovered.
Other highlights from the latest BLS report include:
- The unemployment rate edged down to 4.3%, with 7.2 million people unemployed, a modest improvement from February’s 4.4%.
- The labor force participation rate dipped to 61.9%, and the employment-population ratio held at 59.2%, both little changed over the year.
- Long-term unemployment (27 weeks or more) stood at 1.8 million, accounting for 25.4% of all unemployed people and up 322,000 over the year.
- Part-time employment for economic reasons held at 4.5 million in March, little changed from February.
- Discouraged workers (those who believe no suitable jobs are available for them) rose by 144,000 to 510,000 in March.
- Average hourly earnings rose 9 cents to $37.38, a 3.5% gain over the past 12 months.
Private employment adds 62,000 jobs
ADP’s National Employment Report showed private sector employment increased by 62,000 jobs in March, in line with February’s upwardly revised total of 66,000. Hiring held steady, but it stayed selective.
“Overall hiring is steady, but job growth continues to favor certain industries, including health care,” said Dr. Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “In March, this solid performance was accompanied by a boost in pay gains for job-changers.”
Switching employers no longer carries much financial upside, which tends to suppress candidate flow. In February, the spread between what job-changers and job-stayers earned fell to a record low. March reversed that slightly. Job-changers saw 6.6% year-over-year pay growth, up from 6.3% in February, while job-stayers held steady at 4.5% for the third consecutive month.
March’s private-sector gains came almost entirely from small businesses. Establishments with 1–19 employees added 112,000 jobs while medium and large firms both contracted. Education and health services led sector gains at +58,000. Construction added 30,000. Professional and business services was essentially flat at +1,000, and trade, transportation, and utilities shed 58,000 positions.
