CNN
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The US labor market remained rock solid in March; however, in the early days of April, uncertainty and fear about the trajectory of the economy are quickly mounting.
The US economy added a stronger-than-expected 228,000 jobs in March, a significant increase from February’s revised gains of 117,000, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday.
The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.2% from 4.1%, driven higher in part by new entrants to the labor market.
Economists were expecting job growth to slow to 130,000 in March and for the unemployment rate to tick up to 4.2%, according to FactSet.
US stocks futures were off their morning lows ahead of the jobs report but ticked lower as investors digested the data. While job growth was stronger than expected, tariff anxiety continues to drive market sentiment. Dow futures were down 1,200 points, or 3%. S&P 500 futures were down 3%. Futures tied to the Nasdaq 100 were down 3.1%.
March’s report marks another solid month of job gains and a continuation of a historic growth of the labor market. The US has now added jobs for 51 months in a row, marking the second-longest expansion on record, BLS data shows.
Whether that continues, however, remains to be seen.
Recent economic data has indicated that uncertainty and layoffs are on the rise amid some monumental policy shifts from the Trump administration, including large-scale federal layoffs, funding cutbacks, mass deportations, and tariffs. One of the biggest potential shocks came just this week when Trump imposed a colossal set of new tariffs on America’s trading partners.
“The March employment report indicates that the labor market was in good shape as of last month, but its old news considering the Trump administration’s tariff announcement and ensuing global market rout,” Kathy Bostjancic, Nationwide’s chief economist, wrote in a note to investors on Friday.
President Donald Trump on Friday touted the strong gains in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Great job numbers, far better than expected,” he wrote. “It’s already working.”
For nearly five years, the labor market has been the solid foundation underpinning consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of all economic activity. During the past year, job gains have slowed (an expected normalization after the pandemic), but the labor market has not collapsed.
However, while layoffs remain historically low, hiring and quitting activity have cooled, and economists have cautioned that the the slowdown in “churn” makes the labor market more susceptible to negative shocks.
“Today’s jobs report is a welcome sign, given the negative indicators we saw leading into it,” said Ger Doyle, US country manager at employment agency Manpower Group. “While the US labor market is proving to be resilient, there are signs of cooling that are consistent with employers navigating uncertainty.”
Though the ripple effects from tariffs and immigration-related activities could take longer to show up in the data, the federal workforce reductions have already started appearing. The sector has posted job losses for two consecutive months, dropping 11,000 jobs in February and 4,000 jobs in March, BLS data shows.
The federal government job losses were more than offset by employment gains in state and local government — the two sectors that were primarily responsible for public sector job gains, especially in recent years. In total, the sector added 19,000 jobs in March.
The bulk of last month’s job gains came in the services sector, with health care and social assistance continuing to drive strong payroll growth (adding 77,800 jobs). Employment in leisure and hospitality rebounded in March, adding 43,000 jobs after posting losses in January and February, when wildfires and cold weather affected activity.
This story is developing and will be updated.
CNN’s John Towfighi contributed reporting.