The latest jobs numbers are out from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. What do they mean for job seekers, employers and investors? Here’s a quick take from Glassdoor’s Chief Economist Daniel Zhao.

The job market rebounded sharply in March after the surprisingly weak February jobs report. The rebound in payroll growth more than reverses declines from February. The improvement in unemployment is encouraging, though only partially as it rests on a shrinking labor force. Overall, strikes, weather and other factors obscure the trend and the impacts from the U.S.-Iran war loom on the horizon, but the March jobs report mitigates fears of an imminent deterioration.

Key stats

Health care rebounds from strike

Health care employment grew by 76,400 in March rebounding from a job loss of -32,400 in February. The jump in employment was temporarily boosted by the end of the Kaiser Permanente strike in late February which had previously subtracted about 31,000 jobs from February payroll estimates. 

Removing the effects of the strike results in health care job gains of 45,400 in March and -1,400 in February. Zooming out, however, health care & social assistance job gains have swung wildly so far in 2026, but over the first quarter, job gains have averaged 56,000, which is in line with the second half of 2025 when job gains averaged 52,000, indicating no signs of further deceleration.

Additionally, it’s likely that health care employment growth will continue in the medium-term, regardless of whether the economy slows even further. Even during the Great Recession (2007–2009), health care & social assistance added 32,000 jobs on a monthly basis without a single month of job losses even as the economy overall shed 410,000 jobs on average monthly.

Slow-ish wage gains

Average hourly earnings grew only 3.5% year-over-year in March, the slowest rate since May 2021. The slowdown in wage growth is somewhat exaggerated by strong March 2025 job gains falling out of the year-over-year calculation. Wage growth on a 3-month annualized basis actually accelerated to 3.9% in March from 3.2% in February. Monthly or even quarterly wage gains, though, can be very volatile.

Regardless, the year-over-year slowdown in wage growth and the strong jobs report overall alleviates pressure on the Federal Reserve to act immediately and instead lets them look ahead to prepare for the impacts of the U.S.-Iran war and rising energy prices which are likely to threaten its dual mandate—pushing prices higher and slowing the job market.

More insights

Payroll employment rebounded to +178,000 in March, surging from the -133,000 job loss in February (revised down from -92,000). Payrolls have alternated between gains and losses every month since May 2025, but the 3-month trailing average of jobs growth as of March was +68,333, the fastest pace since April 2025.

The March rebound means the first quarter is looking a lot better in some industries compared to the second half of 2025: Professional & business services, education, construction, retail, and manufacturing all trending more positively. Information and finance job losses are deepening. Transportation & warehousing and government lost jobs in Q1 but at slower pace than H2 2025.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.3% in March, down from 4.4% in February. Unemployment has recovered since the fall 2025 govt shutdown, mitigating fears of a snowballing increase. The drop in March, however, was in part driven by falling labor force participation.

Prime-age (25–54) labor force participation fell slightly to 83.8% in March, but is still just a tick below recent peaks and at a healthy rate overall. Similarly, the prime-age employment-population ratio (flat in March) is near recent peaks.

The unemployment rate improved in March for Black (-0.6 percentage points), Hispanic/Latino (-0.4 percentage points), Asian (-1.1 percentage points) & white (-0.1 percentage points) workers. For Black & Asian workers, this was married with a slight decline in labor force participation in March.