Politics

JUST IN: Trump’s March Jobs Report Shatters All Expectations

Published

5 days ago

April 4, 2025

The latest U.S. jobs report has shattered expectations about President Donald Trump’s ability to rouse employer confidence after years of malaise under the Biden-Harris administration.

Over 228,000 jobs were added in March, far more than the 140,000 economists expected and a sign that the optimistic outlook for business expansion is growing. Unemployment was largely steady at 4.2%, up from 4.1% in February.

The gain far outpaced the 117,000 jobs added in February, which was already a boon for manufacturing sectors as Trump’s first month in office saw its employers add an additional 10,000 new roles.

Health care, transportation, and warehousing were among the industries with the greatest gains last month, while federal employment declined, a consequence of the administration’s widespread layoffs.

Wall Street analysts cautioned that the report is already a snapshot in time, given Wednesday’s announcement of new tariffs placed on goods from more than 60 countries.

“Today’s better than expected jobs report will help ease fears of an immediate softening in the US labor market. However, this number has become a side dish with the market just focusing on the entrée: tariffs,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a memo Friday.

“Next month is when hard data is likely to start showing signs of what soft data has already been signalling,” Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, wrote on Friday.

The uptick in unemployment indicates that more Americans are reentering the workforce in search of jobs, as does a slight increase in the labor force participation rate of 62.5%, NBC News reports.

Data published Thursday by the jobs and career consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas credited Elon Musk and the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency with government workforce reductions, adding the private sector job growth was a much-needed shot in the economy’s arm after the arrival of President Trump’s “Liberation Day.”

“The market needed today’s number,” Shah wrote. “Everyone knows that economic weakness is coming, but at least we can be reassured that the labor market was robust coming into this policy-driven shock.”

Managing the effects of global tariffs is complicated by strife within Republican ranks about their effectiveness. On Tuesday, President Trump publicly reprimanded four Republican U.S. senators who sided with Democrats to pass a resolution denouncing the administration’s new tariffs on Canada. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who opposed the resolution, nevertheless co-sponsored legislation to explore the possibility of returning tariff power back to Congress.

“Congress has a constitutional role through the Commerce Clause on trade matters, and we should re-assume that role,” Grassley told reporters in a press call Tuesday, Politico reported.

In a bid to prevent the bleeding of allies, Trump officials took to the airwaves on Thursday and Friday, urging investors and the public to remain patient while prices fluctuate and pointing to several recent economic wins, including in the automotive sector.