(Washington) The job market in the United States confirmed its solidity in March, with the unemployment rate now approaching its historically low level before the pandemic, and above all a tremor of improvement on the front of the shortage labor.
Updated yesterday at 1:00 p.m.
The American economy is once again “on the move”, and “Americans are back to work”, greeted US President Joe Biden from the White House, who is delighted with this “good news for millions of families who have a little more leeway and […] just the dignity of having a job”.
The jobless rate fell to 3.6%, down 0.2 points from February, according to Labor Department data released Friday. It is thus almost back to its February 2020 level, when it was 3.5%, its lowest level in 50 years, just before COVID-19 put economic activity on hold.
Many workers, who had left the labor market since the start of the pandemic, are returning to it: pre-retirees, mothers who have put their professional lives on hold in the face of childcare difficulties, employees worried about their health…
The participation rate of Americans in the labor market thus continues to progress slowly, to 62.4% (+0.1 point compared to February), its highest level since March 2020. But it is still much lower to 63.4% before the crisis.
“People make more money. They find better jobs, “said Joe Biden, welcoming an improvement” long overdue “, and which comes” after decades of being badly treated and too little paid “.
Wages up 5.6%
His promise to raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour remained blocked in Congress, but this amount is, in fact, often reached or even exceeded.
The labor shortage has led companies to outbid candidates in recent months, driving up wages, and sparking the “Great Resignation” movement, with workers resigning en masse to take advantage of better conditions. with another employer.
This improved the situation of millions of wage earners, but also fueled inflation. The average hourly wage in the private sector climbed to $31.73 in March, 5.6% more than a year ago, according to the Labor Department.
This rhythm should “continue to attract individuals to the labor market”, a movement ” [essentiel] to alleviate some of the current inflationary pressures,” commented Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist for Oxford Economics.
And already, “some American employers report that hiring is getting easier,” said Andrew Challenger, vice president of the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a study published Thursday.
He explains this reversal by the conditions offered by the companies, as well as by “the impacts of inflation and the concerns related to the war pushing workers who depended on savings or investments to seek employment”.
Wage increases, thus, could soon level off, notes Nick Bunker, economist for the job site Indeed. “Recent trends suggest that wage growth has stabilized,” as “worries about labor supply from last year continue to fade,” he adds.
Big resignation
Job creations, on the other hand, were a little disappointing in March, with 431,000 jobs created. This is well below February’s 750,000, but it was a strong rebound then, as the Omicron threat receded.
Thus, in March, “significant employment gains continued in the leisure and hotel industry, professional and commercial services, retail trade and manufacturing industry”, detailed the ministry in its press release.
It is still short, however, of 1.6 million jobs compared to February 2020.
According to the most recent data available released on Tuesday, 4.4 million people resigned in February, a level almost equivalent to January. The historic record was reached in November 2021, with 4.5 million resignations.
The number of unemployment benefit recipients even fell in mid-March to its lowest level since 1969.
The level of employment in the United States is currently “unhealthy”, the president of the American central bank (Fed) had recently estimated.