The U.S. economy added a booming 303,000 jobs in March, a recent report shows, filling out the portrait of a stunningly resilient labor market that keeps shrugging off high interest rates and inflation.
Yet the job market may not be as hot as it looks.
Professional and business services – a sprawling sector that includes most white-collar fields – added a meager 7,000 jobs last month and has created just 71,000 positions since June of last year. The tally was pumped up by January’s 48,000 white-collar payroll gains.
Economists have questioned the employment totals in that month because of challenges the Labor Department faces early in the year as it seasonally adjusts the raw figures from its monthly survey.
During the same eight-month period in 2022 and 2023, professional and business services added 275,000 jobs.
A downshift could be a troubling sign for the economy and labor market because professionals earn among the highest salaries and provide a big boost to consumer spending, says economist Agron Nicaj of MUFG Bank.
What industries experienced job gains?
U.S. job growth, in fact, mostly has been driven by just four large sectors since fall – government; health care; leisure and hospitality; and construction. Local governments and leisure and hospitality – which includes restaurants and bars – have been catching up to their pre-pandemic employment levels. Health care has been buoyed by aging baby boomers. And construction hiring has been propped up by a dire…
