Employment up again in March

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 211,000 in March 2006 to 135.0 million, seasonally adjusted. Over the year, payroll employment has grown by 2.1 million.

[Chart data—TXT]

The March increase was concentrated in the service-providing sector, with gains in several industries, including professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, retail trade, and health care.

Employment in professional and business services increased by 52,000 over the month. The gain was spread among most of the sector's component industries, including architectural and engineering services, computer systems design, management and consulting services, and services to buildings and dwellings.

Leisure and hospitality employment rose by 42,000 in March. Within the industry, employment in food services and drinking places continued to grow, with a gain of 33,000 over the month. In March, retail trade employment increased by 29,000, with most of the growth occurring in general merchandise stores (26,000).

Health care added 24,000 jobs in March. Over the month, job growth occurred in hospitals (8,000) and in ambulatory health care services (16,000), which includes doctors' offices and home health care.

These data on employment are from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program and have been seasonally adjusted. More information can be found in The Employment Situation: March 2006 (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-607. Data for the most recent two months are preliminary.