The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their jobs report this morning for the month of March 2013, which showed that 88,000 new private sector jobs were created last month and the unemployment rate fell from 7.7 percent to 7.6 percent. In the prior 3 months, employment had risen by an average of 204,000 per month.
Over the past 37 consecutive months, the economy has seen added private sector jobs. During this span, 6.5 million private sector jobs have been created.
The jobs report by the BLS of 88,000 for March fell far below the projected average of 195,000 jobs economists had been projecting.
BLS numbers for the prior 3 months:
- December 2012 showed private sector jobs created 219,000
- January 2013 showed private sector jobs created 157,000
- February 2013 showed private sector jobs created 236,000
Both the number of unemployed persons, at 11.7 million, and the unemployment rate, at 7.6 percent, were little changed in March 2013 compared with February 2013.
According to the ADP report for March 2013 the “U.S. economy added 158,000 private sector jobs in March”, well below their projections of 200,000 – 215,000. The ADP report comes out 2 days before the BLS report and often show a disparity.
“The U.S. private sector added 158,000 jobs in the month of March 2013, with the majority of the new jobs created by service providers. Over the first quarter of 2013, the ADP National Employment Report has reported an average gain of 191,000 new private sector jobs per month”, said Carlos A. Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP.
The BLS report left economists cautioning not to read too much into one month's numbers according to CNN Money. While the dour news was unexpected and has tempered some economists' views on the labor market's health, many still expect hiring to continue at a steady clip for the rest of the year.
"Payrolls can be very volatile from month to month," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, who thinks monthly jobs figures will average around 175,000 for the rest of the year. "I'm not inclined to panic over one 88,000 number."
Within the 37 consecutive months of job growth there were some months of low numbers similar to March 2013 that can be seen in the chart above, and as High Frequency Economics points out, one month of numbers is not a reason to “panic”.
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