Figure up from 117,000 jobs added in February, far higher than expected, as unemployment rose slightly to 4.2%
The US added 228,000 jobs in March, far more than expected, as the US economy shook off the blow from the Trump administration’s deep cuts to federal workers.
The figure was up from an adjusted 117,000 jobs added in February. Unemployment rose slightly to 4.2%.
Economists anticipated 140,000 jobs would be added in March 2025, a slight decrease from February and a continued decline from the monthly average of 167,000 jobs over the past 12 months. Payroll firm ADP reported 155,000 jobs were added in the private sector for March 2025.
The report comes after Donald Trump announced a stunning new trade policy – imposing tariffs on the US’s trading partners at rates of between 10% and 50%. It may take months for the impacts of that decision to work their way into the jobs figures.
“GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In Canada, which has been under the threat of Trump tariffs since November, employment dropped by 32,600 people, the first decrease in more than two years.
March’s gains came in healthcare, social assistance, transportation, and warehousing and retail. Federal government employment declined by 4,000 in March, following a loss of 11,000 jobs in February.
March’s strong growth was tempered by a cut of 48,000 to the tally of gains in the previous two months. And outside of the government’s official figures, there are already signs that the resilience of the US job market is being tested.
The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported US-based employers announced 275,240 job cuts in March 2025, led by actions by Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency”, a 60% increase from the previous month and the third-highest total ever recorded since the firm began reporting job firm cuts in 1989.
Announcements of job cuts included steel producer and supplier Cleveland-Cliffs, which shared plans this month to lay off 1,200 workers in Michigan and Minnesota, citing decreased demand for automotive vehicles.
Whirlpool announced 650 layoffs at a manufacturing plant in Iowa. Chipmaker Wolfspeed announced 180 job cuts in North Carolina. Milgard Manufacturing announced plans to shutter a factory in Ventura, California, resulting in 397 jobs lost in May 2025. Aerospace contractor SPS Technologies issued a notification of plans to lay off 251 workers from a Pennsylvania factory in May 2025.
The US economy has continued to grow in spite of uncertainty around Trump’s policies, including tariffs and cuts to the federal workforce and funding programs. Consumer confidence dropped to a 12-year low in March 2025.
