April 2, 2021

March 2021 Jobs Report

Unemployment Rate: 6.0 percent

Jobs Created: 916,000

Employment and Unemployment

  1. The Department of Labor reported the unemployment rate decreased 0.2 percentage point to 6.0% in March.

  2. Nonfarm jobs increased by 916,000 in March.

  3. In January and February, job creation was stronger than first reported. The department revised the change in nonfarm jobs for those months up by a combined 156,000 jobs.

  4. The U-6 unemployment rate, a broader measure that includes part-time and discouraged workers, decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 10.7% in March.

  5. President Biden’s action to revoke the Keystone XL pipeline permit on his first day in office cost jobs. The administration recently proposed job-killing tax increases, which would undermine the recovery.

Labor Force Participation

  1. The labor force participation rate, the share of people employed or looking for work, edged up 0.1 percentage point to 61.5%.

Wages

  1. In March, average hourly earnings for all employees in private nonfarm jobs decreased by $0.04 to $29.96.

Issue Tags: Labor, COVID-19