March labor figures for the U.S. economy were released this Friday.
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The U.S. labor market added 178,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent, a figure announced today morning that exceeds all expectations. Economists had forecast that the economy would add only 59,000 workers and that the unemployment rate would remain stable
at 4.4 percent.
After February employment figures were low, partly affected by a large strike in the health care sector, March reversed this trend and the U.S. economy shows signs of remaining strong. The same health sector, for example, added 76,000 workers in the month and, over the past 12 months, this sector has added an average of 29,000
monthly jobs.
Other sectors, such as construction, jumped 26,000 jobs, transportation and storage expanded by 21,000 and manufacturing added 15,000.
Trump's “reprivatization” plan pays off: 178,000 new jobs in March and unemployment falls to 4.3%
Trump's plan works The
good labor numbers in March are largely explained by the Trump administration's efforts to downsize the federal government and “reprivatize” the U.S. economy. State employment registered a drop in employment of 18,000 jobs and, since October 2024, the federal government has freed itself from 355,000 jobs. Private employment, on the other hand, increased by 186,000
.
Hiring also became more diversified in March. The Labor Department's private sector outreach index, which measures how widely employment gains are distributed across industries, rose to 56.8 from 49.2 in February. This means that industries are adding more jobs than they are cutting, which in turn suggests that March's employment gains were spread across a wider range of businesses instead of focusing on a few sectors as was the case under the Biden administration
.
Looking at salaries, they continued to rise in March. The average hourly wage for all employees increased 9 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $37.38. During the year, average hourly earnings increased by 3.5 percent, exceeding inflation, which remained stable at 2.4% in February and is still at its lowest level since May 2025
