US adds 303,000 jobs in March as unemployment rate drops to 3.8%; Biden calls it ‘America’s comeback’

FactSet’s panel of economists predicted that last month’s payroll gain would be 205,000. From 3.9 per cent in February, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% in March.

The government, construction, and healthcare sectors accounted for the majority of the March job growth.

As demonstrated by Friday’s jobs data, the US labour market seems to remain extremely robust despite rising interest rates and persistently high inflation.

“Today’s jobs report raises the possibility that rather than slowing down, job growth might be holding steady,” said Nick Bunker, the head of Indeed Hiring Lab’s economic research for North America, in a statement.

Also Read: Next US recession may be pushed back to 2025, according to JPMorgan

Biden says US has passed the milestone of 15m jobs

Reacting to the report, US President Joe Biden called it “a milestone in America’s comeback”.

“Three years ago, I inherited an economy on the brink. With today’s report of 303,000 new jobs in March, we have passed the milestone of 15m jobs created since I took office,” he said.

“That’s 15m more people who have the dignity and respect that comes with a paycheck,” the POTUS added.

Also Read: Trump leads Biden in six swing states amid stiff presidential battle, poll finds

Would US job data delay rate cuts?

In spite of the Federal Reserve‘s efforts to curb inflation by hiking interest rates, hiring has remained remarkably robust.

The Fed has boosted its standard interest rate from almost zero to over five percent within the past sixteen months. The Fed would lower interest rates in reaction to what it believed to be a weakening labour market, according to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who announced the halting of rate hikes in March. The decision on rate cut would be announced in May.

Meanwhile, inflation in the United States has gone down as rates have increased. February saw a 3.2 per cent annual pace of price increases, which is lower than the June 2022 peak of over 9 per cent.

Even if the latest report was much stronger than anticipated, racial discrepancies in the US labour market were once again brought to light. Black jobless rates increased by 0.8 per cent to 6.4 per cent, the highest since August 2022. Asian and Hispanic unemployment rates fell to 2.5 and 4.5 per cent, respectively, while White unemployment remained at 3.4 per cent.