The Employment Situation: March 1996 — 1996-04-05

Employment increased in March, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 5.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 140,000 over the month, led by a gain in the services industry. Factory employment continued to decline, but part of the drop in March reflected strike-related shutdowns in automobile manufacturing. Both the number of unemployed persons, 7.5 million in March, and the unemployment rate, 5.6 percent, were about the same as in February. The jobless rate has remained within a narrow range (5.4 to 5.8 percent) since late 1994. Among the major worker groups, the jobless rate for blacks rose to 11.1 percent, while the rates for adult men (5.0 percent), adult women (4.8 percent), teenagers (17.5 percent), whites (4.8 percent), and Hispanics (10.0 percent), showed little or no change in March.