March jobs report: healthcare and government sectors added the most

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A 'Mornings with Maria' panel reacts to the March jobs report, the Fed's expected rate cuts, inflation, A.I. stocks and Biden's 2025 budget proposal.

The U.S. economy continued to add jobs at a solid clip in March, as strong hiring in health care and the government helped to boost the overall payroll figure.

Employers added 303,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department said in its monthly payroll report released Friday, easily topping the 200,000 gain forecast by LSEG economists. The unemployment rate inched lower to 3.8%, from 3.9% in February.

«Gains were once again primarily driven by a handful of sectors, including healthcare, government, as well as leisure and hospitality, which are less sensitive to rising interest rates, maintain demand during a downturn, and faced severe post-pandemic labor shortages,» said Noah Yosif, chief economist at the American Staffing Association.

US ECONOMY ADDS 303K JOBS IN MARCH, MUCH STRONGER THAN EXPECTED

A «We're Hiring» sign at the NC Works Career Center in Wilmington, North Carolina on March 7, 2024.  (Photographer: Allison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The health care sector accounted for the biggest payroll gains in March, adding 72,300 jobs last month. Employment continued to trend upward in doctors' offices (5,100), home health care services (11,700), hospitals (27,100) and nursing and residential care facilities (17,700).

There were also sizable gains within the government last month, with payrolls growing by 71,000. The bulk of those jobs took place within the local government (49,000) and state government (13,000). Most of those jobs are within K-12 public schools and public colleges and universities.

Hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector was the