US Adds 431,000 Jobs In March: 'Labor Market Dynamics Remain Robust'

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY traded higher by 0.4% Friday morning after the Labor Department reported lackluster U.S. jobs market numbers from March.

The U.S. added 431,000 jobs in March, missing consensus economist estimates of 490,000 jobs. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 3.6%, below the 3.7% level economists had projected. The labor participation rate was unchanged at 62.4%, slightly below its 63.4% pre-pandemic rate in February 2020.

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Wages were up 5.6% from a year ago and by 0.4% from February.

The Labor Department also revised January’s total job growth higher by 23,000 jobs to 504,000 and February’s job growth higher by 72,000 jobs to 750,000. The combined revisions totaled 95,000 additional jobs.

The leisure and hospitality industry led the job creation in March, adding 112,000 positions. Unfortunately, employment in the leisure and hospitality industry is still down by 1.5 million jobs since February 2020.

Expert Take: Joseph Brusuelas, principal and chief economist for RSM US LLP, said the U.S. labor market remains red hot.

"American labor market dynamics remain robust with wages rising and individuals re-entering the workforce at a remarkable pace," Brusuelas said Friday. 

He said rising wages will likely continue to lure Americans back into the workforce in the second quarter as well.

"We are likely past the peak of monthly gains and given the context of rising prices and profound geopolitical tensions we do expect that monthly gains will slow to a more sustainable pace of 200,000 to 250,000 by mid-year with the unemployment rate heading towards 3% over the remainder of the year," Brusuelas said.