Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release — 2014-04-04

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment and unemployment data we released this morning. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 192,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent. Employment increased in professional and business services, in health care, and in mining and logging. Incorporating the revisions for January and February, which increased total nonfarm employment by 37,000 on net, monthly job gains have averaged 178,000 over the past 3 months. In the 12 months prior to March, employment growth averaged 183,000 per month. All of the net job growth in March occurred in the private sector, which now has exceeded its employment level in December 2007, when the most recent recession began.