The unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate Labor Department survey of households, matched the Bloomberg survey median. The participation rate, which indicates the share of the working-age people in the labor force, decreased to 62.7 percent, matching the lowest since 1978.
Hourly Earnings
Average hourly earnings rose by 0.3 percent from the prior month, to $24.86. The gain from a year earlier was in line with the average since the expansion began in June 2009.
The average work week for all workers fell by six minutes to 34.5 hours. Inclement winter weather may have played a role in reducing hours. The agency said 182,000 people were unable to work because of weather, 41,000 more than the average for March. Another 531,000 people who usually work full-time could only find part-time work, up from an average 450,000 for the month.
Manufacturing, Construction
Employment dropped by 1,000 in both manufacturing and construction. Payrolls in mining and logging, which includes oil and extraction and services, declined by 11,000 in March for a second month.
Lesma Weir, 41, is among those struggling to find work. She moved to Dallas last year to start a new job as an accountant. Just as she moved, the prospective employer decided to cut staff and her position disappeared.
“I can’t see the recovery,” said Weir, who has a master’s degree in business administration, $60,000 in student loans and a 17-year-old son with special needs. “We were told: ‘You need to get your education.’ I did that. I sacrificed. And now I’m just begging the world: ‘Just give me a job.’”
The March employment report follows a spate of data showing the economy has been cooling. Consumer spending barely rose in February after declining a month earlier, hampered in part by inclement winter weather in parts of the country.
Manufacturing expanded in March at the slowest pace in almost two years, restrained by a stronger dollar, weaker foreign demand, a plunge in oil prices and lingering delays in shipments from West Coast ports.