Jobs Report Defies Expectations Yet Again

America's employers delivered another outpouring of jobs in March, adding a sizzling 303,000 workers to their payrolls and bolstering hopes that the economy can vanquish inflation without succumbing to a recession in the face of high interest rates, the AP reports. Last month's job growth was up from a revised 270,000 in February and was far above the 200,000 jobs that economists had forecast for March. By any measure, it amounted to a strong burst of hiring, and it reflected the economy's ability to withstand the pressure of high borrowing costs resulting from the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes. With the nation's consumers continuing to spend, many employers have kept hiring to meet steady customer demand.

• Friday's report from the Labor Department also showed that the unemployment rate dipped from 3.9% to 3.8%. The jobless rate has now come in below 4% for 26 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s. The government also revised upward its estimate of job growth in January and February by a combined 22,000.
• Normally, a blockbuster bounty of new jobs would fan worries that the additional spending from all those new workers could accelerate inflation. But the March jobs report showed that wage growth was mild last month, which might allay any such fears. Average hourly wages were up 4.1% from a year earlier, the smallest year-over-year increase since mid-2021.
• The Wall Street Journal notes that the number of unfilled jobs remains high: Earlier this week, the Labor Department said that at the end of February, there were 8.8 million job openings.
• Though most industries added jobs last month, hiring was mainly concentrated in three categories: Healthcare and private education, leisure and hospitality, and government accounted for nearly 69% of the hiring. Construction companies added a solid 39,000 jobs.

(More jobs report stories.)