March Jobs Report: Unemployment Rate Rises, 215K Jobs Added

The Labor Department released the March jobs report on Friday showing the U.S. economy added 215,000 jobs, coming in higher than expectations for 205,000. The survey, which is conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said the unemployment rate rose to 5.0%, missing the median forecast for 4.9%.

Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate remained relatively unchanged, ticking up slightly to 63.0% from 62.9%. The less-cited by more telling employment-population ratio remained flat at a weak 59.9%.

Wages continued to underperform fueled by flat work weeks and job creation in lower-paying sectors.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.4 hours in March. The manufacturing workweek edged down by 0.1 hour to 40.6 hours. Factory overtime was 3.3 hours for the fourth month in a row. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.6 hours.

In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased by 7 cents to $25.43, following a 2-cent decline in February. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.3 percent. In March, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 4 cents to $21.37.

Employment in professional and business services, which averaged 52,000 each month in 2015, changed little for the third month in a row. But Employment in manufacturing, a higher-paying sector that has struggled to recover in recent years, declined by 29,000, according to the March jobs report. Most of the job losses occurred in durable goods industries (-24,000), including machinery (-7,000), primary metals (-3,000), and semiconductors and electronic components (-3,000).

Under the burden of heavy government regulations, the higher-wage mining sector continued to decline in March (-12,000), with losses heavy in supported activities (-10,000). Employment in mining since 2014 has fallen by 185,000, while other major industries to include wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and government, changed little over the month.

Retail trade (+48,000), which are lower-paying opportunities, as well as the health care (+37,000) industry led the way. Construction also added a healthy 37,000 jobs in March.