The March jobs report, like the one before it, was a mixture of both good and bad news. There has been a lot of ups and downs in the stock market the past month, with much of that due to back and forth negotiating with countries about tariffs. Since almost all tariff implementations pushed back until April 2, 2025, though, we will have to wait another month to see what fallout will occur. March was busy enough, though, with the still ongoing avian flu crisis, a measles outbreak spreading across the southern U.S., higher prices at the grocery store, and concern that everything from cars to dog food is going to get more expensive in the coming days. With all of that, however, the report itself had far more jobs added than expected, but it is coupled with less great news, another increase in unemployment.
In spite of an additional 228,000 jobs added in March, this morning, the Dow is set to open with a drastic 1,500 point loss, due to reciprocating tariffs from China. As stated above, the stock market has fluctuated a great deal, but it has ended on the lower end. Unemployment rose to 4.2%, with many experts blaming the ongoing cuts within the federal government. The number of jobs in the Warehouse industries continued to trend upward in March. As usual, we’ll have more on that sector further down!
February's Job Opening and Turnover Survey
In February, the Job Opening and Turnover Survey shows no changes from the December report. (January’s report was shown as updated, but no changes were recorded then either.) In fact, the number of job openings is still listed as 7.6 million. It also states that job openings are down 877,000 for the year so far. Quits (listed at 3.2 million) and layoffs and discharges (reported at 1.8 million) has changed little from the December report as well. While layoffs and discharges decreased in the Transportation and Warehousing sector, they increased in retail, real estate, and the federal government. As stated above, the quit rate is at 3.2 million but is down by 273,000 for the year so far. From month to month, the quit rate remains unchanged at 2%.
March's Jobs Report
For the month of March, Non-farm payrolls grew by an explosive number, with 228,000 added last month. This came as a shock to economic experts, although it was not enough to save the stock market from its Friday morning freefall. While job growth was only expected to grow by 130,000 jobs, this new data has sent many reeling. Between mass layoffs and mass deportations and rampant inflation, this unexpected news was the singularly positive piece of March’s economic news. However, it comes with the unfortunate news that unemployment has increased again this year. Since the tariffs have begun in this first week of April, the economy is struggling with how to handle the confusion. March’s report shows unemployment rate rose again to 4.2%. The labor force participation rate for March rose slightly to 62.5%.
Last month, the Healthcare industry, which has been steadily adding small numbers of jobs every month for over a year, added another 54,000 jobs. In Government, due to DOGE’s cuts, there was another decline of federal jobs by 4,000. Layoffs are continuing to take place daily, and the Trump administration has promised to continue these in nearly every department at the federal level. Social assistance employment went up by a surprising 24,000 jobs in March. While retail trade jobs went up by 24,000. Transportation and Warehousing industries leapt forward by a whopping 23,000 jobs, which is about double their prior gains for the past twelve months. Warehousing took a small loss of 9,000 jobs, but this has been made up by 16,000 in courier services and 10,000 in trucking jobs.
Conclusion
The March Jobs Report came out today with numbers that higher than expected numbers, and the February Survey didn’t show any major changes from the December 2024 report. With the tariffs making the most headline news, March’s job report was met with little enthusiasm from the market or economic experts. For last month, job creation continued, but unemployment also rose. While this trend looks to continue into April, we will also continue to follow it! Stay tuned to the LZ Blog and our Lionzone social media to follow the job market!
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Meaghan Goldberg covers recruitment and digital marketing for Lionzone. A Patterson, GA native, after graduating from both Valdosta State University and Middle Tennessee State University, Meaghan joined Lionzone in 2018 as a digital recruitment strategist before becoming the social media manager.
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