Solid Jobs Growth in March Shows Recovery Is for Real

Neither earthquake nor Mideast turmoil have stopped businesses from hiring

 Video

Getting at the job growth numbers (NBC Nightly News, March 1, 2011) — The government says 216,000 jobs have been added, bringing the unemployment rate down to its lowest point in two years. NBC’s John Yang deconstructs the math behind the monthly jobs report. (03:30)

Analysis by John W. Schoen

Senior Producer

March 2, 2011

Neither tsunami nor Libyan turmoil nor higher oil prices have shaken businesses from hiring more workers.

After more than two years of a bleak prospects for job seekers, the economy’s slow, steady growth is finally creating jobs at a healthy pace. …

And while Friday’s report on the job market confirms that employers have begun hiring back some of the millions of workers sidelined by the recession that process will take years, even if the economy maintains its current momentum and the current pace of job creation continues.

The report showed job growth across most sectors, a sign that the economic recovery is broad-based and durable, according to Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

“It’s here to stay,” he said. “There’s a revival in the overall economy that started at the beginning of this year, and job growth firming is part of that.” …

The Labor Department said that non-farm payrolls added 216,000 jobs last month, inching above February’s gain of 194,000. Manufacturing continued its five-month streak, adding 17,000 new jobs; retail added 18,000; the education and health care sectors added 45,000.

A rebound in tourism helped the leisure and hospitality industries add 37,000 new jobs. Even the construction industry, which has lost roughly 2.2 million jobs since 2007, showed signs of stabilizing with just 1,000 jobs lost in March.

The broad-based recovery created 78,000 new openings for professional and business services that include legal and accounting jobs.

The only sector showing continued losses was state and local government, where an ongoing budget squeeze forced jobs cuts that eliminated another 15,000 jobs.

The overall gains helped nudge the unemployment rate down to 8.8 percent from 8.9 percent in February. In just four months, the jobless rate has dropped by a full percentage point — further indication, say economists, that the recent momentum in hiring should continue. …

Despite the pickup in the pace of hiring, the high jobless rate will continue to keep a lid on wages and depress consumer spending. Most forecasters expect the U.S. economy to grow at around 3 percent this year, which would keep the job market growing at about the current pace.

Full story

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — April 2, 2010

Good Friday, Better Economy

Video

Bikini graph shows jobs gains (MSNBC, April 2, 2010) — The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein joins the Rachel Maddow show to talk about whether or not the economy is turning the corner, and how the unemployment rate is used in politics. (12:24)

One year ago today, on Good Friday, I reported that the U.S. economy had posted its largest job gain in three years, with unemployment in March remaining at 9.7 percent for the third straight month.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — April 2, 2009

PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter

The Bachmann File

Two years ago today, on April 2, 2009, I featured PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning project of the St. Petersburg Times to help find the truth in American politics by fact-checking statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists, and interest groups and rating them on the Truth-O-Meter.