US added 916,000 jobs in March, but COVID uptick may offset gains

The gradual reopening of businesses — and increases in capacity limits — have helped firms rehire workers, and consumer confidence is high.

The United States economy added 916,000 jobs in March, edging the unemployment rate down to 6 percent for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began more than a year ago, data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed Friday. March’s jobless figures represented the biggest jump in hiring since August and are in line with a steady decline in unemployment, which hit an all-time high of 14.8 percent in April 2020, when many states imposed strict lockdown measures and shuttered businesses to curb the spread of COVID-19. A year later, data shows many Americans are going back to work, particularly in the leisure and hospitality, public and private education and construction industries, the BLS reported. US manufacturers expanded at the fastest pace since 1983 in March, the Institute for Supply Management reported, and manufacturing employment rose by 53,000 in March.