The economy added 916K jobs in March, unemployment fell to 6% as states eased restrictions on businesses, vaccinations spread

U.S. hiring kicked into a higher gear in March as employers added a booming 916,000 jobs amid falling COVID-19 cases, a relaxation of business constraints in many states and a growing number of Americans receiving vaccinations.The unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% to 6%, the lowest in a year, the Labor department said Friday.The advances, the most since August, were again driven by substantial gains at restaurants and bars, as well as construction and education.Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected 643,000 additional job gains. Another positive: Employment gains for January and February were revised up by a total of 156,000.”America’s job market turned it up a notch in March,” says economist Leslie Preston of TD Economics.And “better – much better – numbers are coming” in the second quarter, says Ian Shepherdson, chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics.“The first two months of our administration has seen more jobs created than any administration in history, but we still have a long way to go to get the economy back on track after the worst economic crisis in history,” President Joe Biden said at a White House news conference Friday. He noted employment remains 8.4 million jobs below pre-pandemic levels.Infections continued to fall through the first half of March, and many states – including Texas, Florida, Arizona and Louisiana – have lifted all occupancy limits on restaurants and other businesses. That has prompted the outlets to recall more furloughed workers or step up hiring. OpenTable reported a sharp rebound in online restaurant reservations, which are back to pre-pandemic levels in Texas, Goldman Sachs says.COVID cases have risen recently in a surge tied to spring break, less stringent social distancing requirements and a fast-spreading coronavirus variant. But deaths have continued to trend down, and 29% of Americans have received at least one vaccine shot, according to Pantheon Macroeconomics.“We are of the view that the U.S. will not see cases rocketing as they did in the UK last fall, when the variant first emerged,” Shepherdson wrote in a note to clients.Meanwhile, after winter storms led to heavy construction job losses in February, milder weather likely boosted gains last month, Goldman said. Construction added 110,000 jobs amid a strong housing market as the industry more than reversed weather-related losses the previous month.Leisure and hospitality added 280,000 jobs, including 176,000 at restaurants and bars, the hardest-hit sector in the crisis. Education, both public and private, added a total 190,000 jobs, as many schools reopened. Professional and business services added 66,000 jobs; transportation and warehousing, 48,000; and retail, 23,000.The number of Americans on temporary layoff fell by 203,000 to 2 million as businesses continued to rehire furloughed workers. About 21% of unemployed workers said they were on temporary layoff, down modestly from the previous month. That means many workers could still be brought back to their old jobs, though that number has been declining. The ranks of Americans permanently laid off fell by 65,000 to 3.4 million and amounts to a longer-lasting scar for the economy.The $900 billion COVID relief package, passed by Congress in December, likely bolstered hiring, in part by renewing the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides forgivable loans to small businesses, Oxford Economics says.Predicted summer travel surge leads TSA to hire 6,000 officersThe Transportation Security Administration is looking to hire 6,000 new security officers ahead of an expected surge in summer travel in 2021.Buzz60The number of people working at small businesses increased in March by the most since last June, according to Homebase, which provides employee scheduling software.Another $1.9 trillion COVID aid bill was likely signed into law too recently – on March 11 – to affect the jobs survey, which was conducted the second week of the month, Capital Economics says. But the measure, which is providing $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans, is set to significantly juice the economy and job market this year, the research firm says.In December and January, COVID spikes stalled the jobs recovery from the pandemic-induced downturn. But the unprecedented government assistance, combined with the increasing vaccinations, should lead to 7.5 million job gains this year as unemployment falls to 4.4% by year-end, says economist Lydia Boussour of Oxford Economics.So far, the U.S. has recovered 13.9 million, or 62%, of the 22.4 million jobs lost last spring. Even if Oxford’s historically massive jobs forecast for this year is realized, it would still leave the country 2.5 million jobs short of its pre-crisis mark. Those jobs are expected to be recouped by the end of 2022.But the economy will have to grapple with other legacies of the pandemic, as well. The number of Americans unemployed six months or longer rose by 70,000 last month to 4.2 million and is up from just 1.1 million before the crisis. Such workers are considered long-term unemployed and typically have a tougher time landing new jobs because their skills erode or employers are simply more reluctant to bring them on.“That’s a problem and it needs a very targeted response,” says Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation, a nonprofit that raises awareness about the challenges facing U.S. workers and previously headed the Labor Department’s employment and training division under President Obama. “We don’t want these people to become so hopeless that they drop out of the labor force.” Many, she says, may need to be retrained for new fields. And about 4 million people have stopped working or looking for jobs over the past year because they’re discouraged, fearful of contracting COVID, caring for children or sick relatives, or other reasons.Some employers say the smaller labor force and expanded unemployment benefits provided by the COVID relief package may be making it tougher to find job candidates. Two Men and a Truck is trying to hire at least 2,000 workers this month at its more than 350 franchise locations as the spring home-buying season ramps up in an already hot housing market. The company is looking for movers, drivers customer service representatives and managers, with the number of moves it handles projected to rise 10% above 2019 figures.“Finding qualified employees has been extremely challenging in most markets throughout the country, especially in the last three to four months,” Sara Bennett, the company’s chief talent officer, said in an email. “We have had to expand our methods of recruiting and explore new ways of attracting and retaining employees.” Those include holding virtual hiring events to demonstrate the safety precautions the company takes, she says.Infrastructure and the economy: Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan would lift economy but higher taxes may hamper growth until projects roll outWhere’s my check? Stimulus checks sent to 130M Americans so far. Delayed payments for some Social Security beneficiaries to roll out.Labor force participation risesThe share of Americans working or looking for jobs edged up to 61.5% from 61.4%, but the figure is still below the pre-crisis high of 63.4% and near the lowest levels since the mid-1970s. Vaccinations and the reopening of the economy are drawing more of those sidelined back into a now-vibrant labor market.That’s a good thing, and it means unemployment fell despite the more intense competition for open positions. But the rise in labor force participation could keep the unemployment rate from falling more rapidly in coming months, Goldman says.Wider jobless measure tumblesA broader measure of unemployment – that includes part-time workers who prefer full-time jobs and discouraged Americans who have given up looking as well as the unemployed – fell from 11.1% to 10.7%, even more sharply than the drop in the unemployment rate.


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