U.S. Economy Adds 211,000 Jobs in March

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 211,000 in March, and the unemploy- ment rate was little changed at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the month, job growth was widespread in the service-providing sector.

Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.0 million, and the unemployment rate, 4.7 percent, were little changed in March. The jobless rates for the major worker groups--adult men (4.1 percent), adult women (4.1 percent), teenagers (15.7 percent), whites (4.0 percent), blacks (9.3 percent), and Hispanics (5.4 percent)--showed little or no change over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 3.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Total employment was up in March to 143.6 million; the employment-popula- tion ratio--the proportion of the population age 16 and over with jobs--was little changed at 63.0 percent. The labor force participation rate remained at 66.1 percent and has been at or near that level for a year.

The number of persons working part time for economic reasons edged down to 4.0 million in March. This category includes persons who indicated that they would like to work full time but were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find full-time jobs.