March’s jobs report was strong

At the end of a week when the economic news ranged from bad to dismal, you could be forgiven for not reading too much into one blip of good-ish news.

But hey, let’s take a look at it anyway. Employers added 228,000 jobs in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marking a solid climb from last month and easily besting the Dow Jones estimate of 140,000. The unemployment rate, however, climbed to 4.2%, up from 4.1% in February.

In the last few years, the solid labor market has driven consumer spending, which keeps the economy chugging along. Basically: We need these healthy job numbers. While the strong jobs report might not ease anyone’s economic fears right now, if we ever get a jobs report showing lackluster hiring, that will really spell trouble.

President Trump was quick to claim on Truth Social that the jobs report showed his economic plans were “ALREADY WORKING,” ignoring the fact that the report captures hiring data from before his more sweeping tariffs were announced.

Instead, the latest jobs report is more likely the “calm before the potential tariff-related storms,” Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board, told CNN.

Lindsay Rosner, head of multi-sector fixed income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, told CNBC the better than expected report “will help ease fears of an immediate softening in the US labor market.”

But it’s obviously not the big news, she added, noting: “However, this number has become a side dish with the market just focusing on the entrée: tariffs.”

We couldn’t have said it better.