Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press 

under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that 

the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. 

Statement of 

William W. Beach 

Commissioner 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Friday, April 5, 2019

In March, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 196,000, 

and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent. Over the 

month, notable job gains occurred in health care and in 

professional and technical services. 

Incorporating revisions for January and February, which 

increased nonfarm payroll employment by 14,000, monthly job 

gains averaged 180,000 in the first quarter of this year. In 

2018, employment gains averaged 223,000 per month. 

Health care employment rose by 49,000 in March, with gains 

occurring in ambulatory health care services (+27,000), 

hospitals (+14,000), and nursing and residential care facilities 

(+9,000). Over the past 12 months, health care has added 398,000 

jobs. 

Employment in professional and technical services increased 

by 34,000 in March and 311,000 over the past 12 months. In 

March, computer systems design and related services added 12,000 
2 

jobs. Employment continued to trend up in architectural and 

engineering services (+6,000) and in management and technical 

consulting services (+6,000). 

Employment continued to trend up in food services and 

drinking places in March (+27,000), in line with its average 

monthly growth over the prior 12 months. 

Construction employment changed little over the month 

(+16,000). Over the past 12 months, construction has added 

246,000 jobs. 

Manufacturing employment changed little in March (-6,000), 

following little change in February (+1,000). In the 12 months 

prior to February, manufacturing had added an average of 22,000 

jobs per month. Within the industry, employment in motor 

vehicles and parts fell by 6,000 in March. 

Employment in other major industries--including mining, 

wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, 

information, financial activities, and government--showed little 

change over the month. 

Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm 

payrolls rose by 4 cents in March to $27.70, following a 10-cent 

gain in February. Over the past 12 months, average hourly 

earnings have risen by 3.2 percent. From February 2018 to 

February 2019, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 
3 

(CPI-U) increased by 1.5 percent (on a seasonally adjusted 

basis). 

Turning now to data from the survey of households, the 

unemployment rate held at 3.8 percent in March. The number of 

unemployed people, at 6.2 million, was essentially unchanged 

over the month. 

The number of unemployed people searching for work for 27 

weeks or longer, at 1.3 million, was little changed in March. 

These long-term unemployed accounted for 21.1 percent of the 

total unemployed. 

The labor force participation rate, at 63.0 percent, 

changed little over the month and has shown little movement on 

net over the past 12 months. The employment-population ratio was 

60.6 percent in March and has been either 60.6 percent or 60.7 

percent since October 2018. 

In March, 4.5 million people were working part time for 

economic reasons (also referred to as involuntary part-time 

workers), little changed from the previous month. 

Among those neither working nor looking for work in March, 

1.4 million were considered marginally attached to the labor 

force, little different from a year earlier. (People who are 

marginally attached to the labor force had not looked for work 

in the 4 weeks prior to the survey but wanted a job, were 

available for work, and had looked for a job within the last 12 
4 

months.) Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally 

attached who believed no jobs were available for them, numbered 

412,000 in March, also little different from a year earlier. 

In summary, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 196,000 

in March, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 

percent.