US President Donald Trump on Friday hailed the US jobs data, with the labour market bouncing back in March as midterm elections loom over the POTUS with an ongoing war against Iran.
Trump made back to back posts on Truth Social, hailing the unexpected fall in unemployment rates. rose 178,000 last month, the most since the end of 2024, after revisions showed a sharper decline in February, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Friday. This was higher than expectations.
“178,000 new jobs in March. Unemployment DOWN. Great numbers by all accounts, even the Fake News. MAGA!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In another post on the social media platform,raved about his economic policies, claiming “nothing can slow it down”.
“A very happy and blessed Good Friday to all, especially to the 186,000 Americans who gained Private Sector jobs in the month of March alone! My Economic Policies have created an enormously powerful engine of Economic Growth, and nothing can slow it down,” he wrote.
“Factory Construction Jobs are soaring as a result of the rapid Onshoring and surging Investment that TARIFFS have generated, all while the Trade Deficit has shrunk by 52% in a year!” Trump added.
US jobs bounce back in March
American employers added a surprising 178,000 jobs in March after a dismal February, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, US data showed on Friday.
The Labor Department statistics on the marked a mega comeback from the loss of 133,000 jobs in February. The job gains were about three times what economists had forecast.
Health care companies added 76,400 jobs last month, boosted by the return of 31,000 Kaiser Permanente employees to work after the end of a strike in February. Factories added 15,000 jobs last month but have still shed jobs for 14 of the last 16 months. Construction companies added 26,000 jobs, probably partly because of warmer weather last month.
The unemployment rate was down from 4.4% in February. According to a report by the Associated Press, this was in part due to the drop in the labour force, which fell by 396,000 in March. Therefore, fewer people were competing for jobs. The participation rate — the share of the population that is working or looking for work — slipped to 61.9% in March, the lowest since 2021.
This was the first time since 2024 that US jobs data were looking this high. However, federal government employment continued to decline, down by 11.8% since October 2024.
On average, payrolls rose 68,000 in the first three months of this year, the strongest run in almost a year.
US Treasury yields rose following the release. The stock market was closed for the Good Friday holiday.
