March saw an increase of 228,000 jobs, even as government employment declined, according to the new monthly report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Friday report puts wind in the sails of the Trump administration, as it attempts to sell the American public on its bold restructuring of the U.S. economy.
“GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!” said President Donald Trump on Truth Social on Friday in all capital letters for emphasis.
Although the unemployment rate (4.2%) and the total number of unemployed people (7.1 million) remained mostly unchanged, the gain of 228,000 nonfarm payroll jobs is a big spike compared with previous months.
The report mentions that this gain is “higher than the average monthly gain of 158,000 over the prior 12 months.”
More specifically, job gains were seen in “health care, in social assistance, and in transportation and warehousing,” as well as in retail.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted on X that these numbers were the result of Trump’s tariffs and his tough-on-trade stance from even before his Wednesday “liberation day” tariff rollout.
“The president’s push to onshore jobs here in the United States is working. The Golden Age of America is on its way!” said Leavitt.
In keeping with February, federal government jobs continued to decline, although at a slower pace. Some 4,000 government jobs were lost in March, a drop from the 11,000 jobs lost in February.
The continued losses of government jobs is likely the result of the concerted push to downsize government and reinstate standards, such as requiring in-office work.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer celebrated the numbers Friday morning, saying that the job figures blew financial pundits’ pessimistic predictions “out of the water.”