Economic conditions & trends

US Added 178K Jobs in March

Is the March jobs report a blowout win for the economy or a temporary mask on a deeply frozen labor market?

Published 2 hours ago

story

Above: A construction worker at a house in Alhambra, Calif., on March 19. Image credit: Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images

The Spin

Pro-Trump narrative

The March jobs report is a blowout win, nearly tripling what economists predicted and unemployment falling to 4.3% across women, Black Americans, Hispanics, Asians and veterans — all American citizens. What's more, private sector growth is driving this, not government bloat, which Trump continues to shrink. And the best part is that wages are up, inflation is down to 2.4% and blue-collar workers have fully recovered what was lost in the Biden years.

ZeroHedge PJ Media

Anti-Trump narrative

One decent month can't paper over a labor market that's been frozen solid. Job growth has averaged just 89,000 per month over the last six months. February's losses were revised to 133,000 — the worst since the pandemic — and 400,000 people simply quit looking for work. Health care propped up March's headline number, manufacturing is still down 82,000 jobs and stagflation is increasingly what economists see coming.

MS Now The New Republic