U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed U.S. jobs data on Friday, with the labor market rebounding in March as midterm elections loom over the POTUS with the ongoing war against Iran.
Trump posted on Truth Social celebrating the unexpected drop in the unemployment rate. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 178,000 last month, the most since the end of 2024, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday, after revisions showed a steeper decline in February. This was higher than expected.
“178,000 new jobs in March. Unemployment DOWN. Great numbers by all accounts, even fake news. MAGA!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In another post on the social media platform, Donald Trump raved about his economic policies, claiming that “nothing can slow it down.”
“A very happy and blessed Good Friday to all, especially the 186,000 Americans who gained private sector jobs in March alone! My economic policies have created an extremely powerful engine of economic growth and nothing can slow it down,” he wrote.
“Factory construction employment is soaring due to rapid Onshoring and growing investment that TARIFFs have generated, while the trade deficit has shrunk by 52% in a year! Trump added.”
US jobs will bounce back in March
US employers added a surprising 178,000 jobs in March after a dismal February, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, US data showed on Friday.
The Labor Department’s U.S. jobs statistics made a mega comeback after losing 133,000 jobs in February. The job growth was about three times what economists had predicted.
Health care companies added 76,400 jobs last month, helped by the return of 31,000 Kaiser Permanente employees to work after a February strike. Factories added 15,000 jobs last month, but have still cut jobs in 14 of the past 16 months. Construction firms added 26,000 jobs, likely due in part to warmer weather last month.
The unemployment rate fell from 4.4% in February. According to an Associated Press report, this was partly due to a decline in the labor force, which fell by 396,000 in March. Therefore, fewer people were competing for jobs. The participation rate — the share of residents working or looking for work — fell to 61.9% in March, the lowest since 2021.
It was the first time since 2024 that US jobs data looked this high. However, federal government employment continued to decline, down 11.8% from October 2024.
In the first three months of this year, wages rose by an average of 68,000, the strongest increase in nearly a year.
U.S. Treasury yields rose after the release. The stock exchange was closed on Good Friday.
