United States: Employment rebounds in March
Latest reading: The US economy added 178,000 jobs in March 2026, the most since December 2024, following a revised decline of 133,000 in February, when a strike in the healthcare sector weighed on employment. The figure came in well above market expectations of 60,000.
Job gains were led by healthcare, construction, transportation and warehousing, manufacturing, and social assistance, while federal government employment and financial activities declined. Finally, the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3% in March from 4.4% in February.
Panelist insight: Digging into the data, TD Economics’ Thomas Feltmate said:
“Payrolls surprised to the upside in March, handily beating expectations but also more than reversing February’s pullback which was impacted by strike and weather-related effects. Encouragingly, the breadth of hiring widened to its highest level since December 2023, suggesting it wasn’t only a reversal of February effects driving last month’s gains.”