In March, total non-farm payroll employment rose by 162,000. Job growth continued in temporary help services and in health care. Federal government employment increased due to the hiring of temporary workers for Census 2010. Job losses continued in financial activities and in information.
Temporary help services added 40,000 jobs in March. Since September 2009, temporary help services employment has risen by 313,000.
Employment in health care continued to increase in March (27,000), with the largest gains occurring in ambulatory health care services (16,000) and in nursing and residential care facilities (9,000).
In March, employment in federal government was up over the month, reflecting the hiring of 48,000 temporary workers for the decennial census.
Manufacturing employment continued to trend up in March (17,000); the industry has added 45,000 jobs in the first 3 months of 2010. Over the month, job gains were concentrated in fabricated metal products (9,000) and in machinery (6,000).
Employment in construction held steady (15,000) in March. The industry had lost an average of 72,000 jobs per month in the prior 12 months.
This employment data is from the Current Employment Statistics program and is seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent two months is preliminary. Monthly revisions result from additional sample reports and the monthly recalculation of seasonal factors. To learn more, see "The Employment Situation—March 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-10-0394.
