US hiring stays robust as jobless rate falls, wages pick up

[WASHINGTON] The US added close to half a million jobs in March and the unemployment rate fell by more than expected, highlighting a robust labour market that's likely to support more hawkish Federal Reserve policy in the coming months.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 431,000 last month after an upwardly revised 750,000 gain in February, a Labor Department report showed Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 3.6 per cent and the labour force participation rate ticked up. Wage gains accelerated.

The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 490,000 advance in payrolls and for the unemployment rate to fall to 3.7 per cent.

The data suggest that the labour market recovery is continuing at a robust pace as employers have better success filling a near-record number of positions.

Inflation, shrinking excess household savings and solid wage growth are factors that could attract more Americans to jobs in the coming months. Covid has also become less of a factor as states broadly lift restrictions. BLOOMBERG