Friday, April 7, 2018 – A recent report by USA Today reveals that only 103,000 jobs were added by employers in the month of March 2018. This report revealed that this steep sump in the number of total jobs added by employers was due to the bitterly cold weather that prevailed for almost entire month.
In the month of February 2018, warm and conducive weather added to 300,000 hiring in retail and construction industries.
The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate for March was constant at 4.1% for the 6th consecutive month. Though economists and experts forecast 185,000 new jobs in March, only 103,000 jobs were added. In light of this major slump, some economists and experts believe that only 150,000 or fewer jobs will be created in April 2018 too.
Though the number of new jobs reduced in March, a rather sharp pay raise came as good news to job holders in March. The average hourly pay was increased by 8 cents to $26.82 increasing the yearly pay by 2.7%. In February 2018, the annual pay gain was 2.6%.
Experts believe that the overall compensation will increase further in April 2018 as companies are now forced to provide employees with pay hikes owing to the lower unemployment rates in the USA.
Talking about industries, new jobs slumped across almost all sectors. According to the report, the Health Care Industry added 34,000 new jobs, and the manufacturing industry added 22,000 new jobs. The professional and business services added 33000 new jobs. The leisure and hospitality sector just added 5,000 new jobs.
The construction industry lost around 15,000 jobs and the retail industry lost approximately 4,400 owing to the bitterly cold weather in the month of March 2018. In addition, the percentage of part-time workers, looking for full-time opportunities, decreased to 8% from 8.2%. The number of part-time workers, looking for full-time jobs, went down by 141,000.
The report further revealed that the percentage of unemployed Americans without a high school diploma decreased from 5.7% to 5.5%. In addition, the percentage of unemployed Americans with a high school graduation diploma decreased from 4.4% to 4.3%.
The report reveals that the major reason for the drop in the number of new jobs in March 2018 was bad weather. However, the payroll for the January, February and March 2018 averaged a 202,000. Last year, it was 182,000 for the same period.
Surprisingly, it takes just 80,000 new jobs to keep a tab on the unemployment rate. Though the report may look disappointing at first glance, the sharp increase in the compensation is a blessing for employees.
The low unemployment rate is good news for employees hunting for good paying jobs. Creating an impressive curriculum vitae using a free resume builder or one of the premium resume services is now much easier. As the unemployment rate falls, wages often rise and good employees are in demand.
