March 2018 Employment Situation

America’s employment situation improved in March 2018, albeit at a slower pace, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Our economy added 103,000 net new jobs as the first quarter ended.  Not only was this a deceleration compared to the prior period, but both January and February were revised lower by a total of 50,000 jobs after more complete data were collected.  Despite the revisions and slower growth, the nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent for the sixth consecutive month. 

Internal data were mixed but skewed positively.  The average workweek for all employees was unchanged at 34.5 hours; however, manufacturing’s workweek edged down six minutes to 40.9 hours.  The workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private payrolls also lost six minutes, falling to 33.7 hours.  Average earnings for all employees increased eight cents to $26.82, and average hourly earnings for private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased four cents to $22.42 in March. 

Nonfarm payrolls have been very choppy lately.  For instance, March’s tally was less than one-third of the uptick in February (+326,000).  Atlas likes to look to moving averages to help filter out some of the noise in the monthly figures.  Over the past three months, America has added an average of nearly 202,000 jobs.  While this is slower than the prior three-month average of about 226,000, it is better than the 12-month average of roughly 188,000 jobs per month. As Atlas sees it, jobs growth in America remains firmly footed notwithstanding recent turbulence in the figures.