Statement by U.S. Secretary of Labor Acosta on March Jobs Report

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta today issued the following statement regarding the March 2019 Employment Situation report:

"The March jobs report exceeded expectations with 196,000 new jobs created. Adding upward revisions of 14,000 jobs from the past two months, means that more than 5.1 million jobs have been created since January 2017.

"The unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%, marking the thirteenth straight month the unemployment rate was at or below 4.0%. In particular, the 3.3% unemployment rate for adult women matched the low since 1953.

"American workers are increasing their productivity, and paychecks are rising. Year-over-year wage growth was 3.2%. For eight straight months, year-over-year average hourly earnings growth eclipsed 3.0%.

"With healthy job growth, rising wages, and low unemployment, we continue to work to increase labor force participation to fill high levels of open jobs."