WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Joint Economic Committee released its Monthly Employment Update. In March, 178,000 jobs were added (186K private sector, -8K government) after a weak showing in February. The unemployment rate ticked down slightly from 4.4 percent to 4.3 percent while the labor force participation rate dropped again by 0.1 percentage points from 62 percent to 61.9 percent. The broadest measure of unemployment (U-6, which adds underemployment to unemployment) increased by 0.1 percentage points from 7.9 percent to 8.0 percent.

Revised numbers from February show 41,000 fewer jobs from a loss of 92,000 to a loss of 133,000 jobs. January’s report revised increased by 34,000 to end with a gain of 160,000 jobs.

From March 2025 to March 2026, for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.52 percent and average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.52 percent. For production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls, average nominal weekly earnings increased by 3.69 percent and average nominal hourly earnings increased by 3.38 percent.

From February to March, the best performing sectors were private education and health services (+91K) and leisure and hospitality (+44K) and the worst performing sectors were federal government (-18K) and financial activities (-15K).

Year over year (March 2025 to March 2026), the best performing sectors were private education and health services (+663K) and leisure and hospitality (+176K) and the worst performing sectors were federal government (-330K) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-154K).

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, declined. From January 2026 to February 2026, the total number of nonfarm job openings decreased by 358,000 to 6.88 million, and the rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 4.2 percent. The best performing sectors were other services (+77K) and professional and business services (+64K). The worst performing sectors were leisure and hospitality (-213K) and private education and health services (-78K).

For the full Employment update and to see more details on the employment situation in each state, visit: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/employment-update

 

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