April 3 (UPI) — New jobs grew while unemployment held firm in the United States in March, with 178,000 nonfarm payrolls added, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
March was a rebound from a poor February report that showed 133,000 jobs lost. The unemployment rate remained at 4.3%.
The February jobs report numbers were revised down by 41,000.
Friday’s report beat the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 59,000 added payrolls. It is more than double the 67,000 jobs added in March 2025.
It is the biggest payroll gain since President Donald Trump began his second term in office. However, it remains starkly below the average monthly job gains under former President Joe Biden, who held office while the U.S. economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the Biden administration, the U.S. economy added about 186,000 per month in 2024, totaling 2.23 million jobs created that year. In total, 16.6 million jobs were added during Biden’s four years in office, an average of more than 345,000 per month.
The unemployment rate remains elevated over January 2025, when Trump took office. The unemployment rate at that time was 4%. It has edged down steadily from the 4.6% peak reached in November.
Health care again was a leading sector in new jobs added in March, adding 76,000 jobs. Employment in hospitals increased by 15,000. For the 12 months ending in March, health care averaged 29,000 jobs added per month.
The federal government is down about 355,000 employees, an 11.8% decrease, with another 18,000 jobs lost in March. Reducing the federal workforce has been a marquee goal of the Trump administration.
The average wages for all nonfarm employees increased by 9 cents in March, up to $37.38.
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