The March employment report of the U.S. Department of Labor showed an increasing workforce amid the improving economy. The report reflected a beefed up nonfarm payroll employment with 215,000 workers added last month.
The increase is slightly lower than the February figure of 245,000. The unemployment rate, however, edged up to 5 percent from last month's 4.9 percent but the Labor Department says that the increase is actually a plus factor because the economy is drawing previously discouraged Americans back to the workforce even as some are opting for part-time jobs.
Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services, corroborates the Labor Department's analysis.
"The increase in the unemployment rate came not because of fewer people working, but because more people were looking for jobs," Faucher said.
Employment gains in March came mostly from the retail trade, construction and health care sectors.
Retail trade recorded an increase of 48,000 jobs in March. General merchandise stores added 12,000 to their workforce. Health and personal care companies hired additional personnel for 10,000 jobs. Building material and garden supply businesses employed 10,000 more while automobile dealers filled 5,000 positions.
Construction employment grew by 37,000 in March, broken down into 12,000 for residential specialty trade contractors and 11,000 in civil engineering construction.
Health care employees increased by 37,000. Employment increased in ambulatory health care service at 27,000 and hospitals at 10,000.
Food and drink services registered a 25,000 increase and financial activities an additional 15,000. The professional and business services showed no significant change.
Taking into account the January nonfarm payroll employment gain of 168,000 and the February increase of 245,000, employment increase averaged 209,000 per month during the first quarter of 2016.
As employment increased in March, wages slightly went up by 7 cents or 0.3 percent to an average hourly rate of $25.43. This suggests that as recovery gradually picks up, there is still considerable room for more workers joining or rejoining the force.
The slow economic growth leaves the weekly work hours unchanged at 34.4 as companies are not keen as yet to implement drastic increases in both work hours and wages until signs of steady recovery become obvious.
Not Quite Rosy For Other Sectors
The March increases were accompanied by drops in certain industry sectors. The manufacturing sector suffered the most with 29,000 lost jobs. Mining came in second with a 12,000 decrease. Government, transportation and warehousing, wholesale trade and information also had little change over the month.
From Recovery To Economic Boom?
Opinions are split.
While the economy has been producing more than 200,000 nonfarm jobs per month over the last two years, it is not quite back to normal. A Bloomberg report notes that while the U.S. labor market is showing resiliency, growth is not strong enough to sustain full-time jobs, at least not yet.
Even Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled a slower pace of rate hikes in 2016 to allow the labor market to heat up further. But Michelle Girard, RBS Securities Chief U.S. Economist, is encouraged by the uptick, though not that big, and told Bloomberg that the good jobs numbers is great news.
For many analysts, the April 1 jobs report portrays an economy gradually gearing to a normal direction. But whether the ongoing recovery will translate to an economic boom is anybody's guess.
