Employment Blog April 2018

By Stephen Singer, April 25, 2018

This employment blog is from the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 in March, following a large gain in February (+326,000). The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1 percent in March. Over the month, job gains occurred in manufacturing, health care, and mining. Incorporating revisions for January and February, which decreased nonfarm payroll employment by 50,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 202,000 over the past 3 months. This information is detailed in Charts 1 and 2 below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manufacturing employment rose by 22,000 in March. All of the increase occurred in the durable goods component, including a gain of 9,000 in fabricated metal products. Over the past 12 months, manufacturing has added 232,000 jobs; the durable goods component accounted for about three-fourths of the jobs added.

Employment in health care increased by 22,000 in March and has grown by 304,000 over the year. Within the industry, employment continued to trend up over the month in ambulatory health care services (+16,000) and hospitals (+10,000).

Mining employment rose by 9,000 in March, with gains occurring in support activities for mining (+6,000) and in oil and gas extraction (+2,000). Employment in mining has expanded by 78,000 since a recent low point in October 2016.

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in March (+33,000). Over the year, employment in the industry has increased by 502,000, with gains distributed across most of the component industries.

Employment in retail trade changed little in March (-4,000) following an increase in February (+47,000). Within the industry, employment in general merchandise stores declined by 13,000 over the month, offsetting an increase of the same magnitude in February. Over the year, employment in retail trade has shown little net change.

In March, employment in construction changed little (-15,000), following a large increase in February (+65,000). These employment changes averaged 25,000 per month, roughly in line with the average monthly gain over the previous 6 months.

Employment in other major industries–wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and government–showed little change over the month.

Real average hourly earnings for all employees increased 0.4 percent from February to March,
seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This result stems from a
0.3-percent increase in average hourly earnings combined with a 0.1-percent decrease in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Real average weekly earnings in
increased 0.4 percent over the month due to the increase in real average hourly earnings combined with no change in the average workweek. This information in detailed in Chart 3 below.