Workspan Daily News Bytes for April 3, 2026

U.S. Labor Market Bounces Back with 178,000 Added Jobs in March

Total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment increased by 178,000 in March, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.3%, according to data released on Friday, April 3 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

February’s number was revised down by 41,000 while January was revised up by 34,000 to 160,000, putting the three-month average around 68,000.

Looking at employment by industry:

Healthcare added 76,000 jobs in March. Employment in ambulatory health care services rose by 54,000, reflecting an increase of 35,000 in offices of physicians as workers returned from a strike. Employment also increased in hospitals (+15,000). Over the prior 12 months, healthcare had added an average of 29,000 jobs per month.
Employment in construction grew by 26,000 in March but had shown little net change over the prior 12 months.
In March, transportation and warehousing added 21,000 jobs, reflecting a gain in couriers and messengers (+20,000). Employment in transportation and warehousing is down by 139,000 since reaching a peak in February 2025.
Employment in social assistance continued its upward trend in March (+14,000), primarily in individual and family services (+11,000).
Federal government employment continued to decline in March (-18,000). Since reaching a peak in October 2024, federal government employment is down by 355,000, or 11.8%. Federal employees on furlough during the partial government shutdown were counted as employed in the establishment survey because they worked or received (or will receive) pay for the pay period that included the 12th of the month.
Employment in financial activities edged down by 15,000 in March, reflecting a loss in finance and insurance (-16,000). Employment in financial activities is down by 77,000 since reaching a peak in May 2025.
Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; information; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.

Looking at unemployment:

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for people who are Asian (3.7%) decreased in March. The jobless rates for adult men (3.8%), adult women (4.0%), teenagers (13.7%), and people who are White (3.6%), Black (7.1%, or Hispanic (4.8%) showed little change over the month.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.8 million in March but is up by 322,000 over the year. The long-term unemployed accounted for 25.4% of all unemployed people in March.

Looking at hours and wages:

In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $37.38. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.5%. In March, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged up by 5 cents, or 0.2% to $32.07.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours in March. In manufacturing, the average workweek was unchanged at 40.2 hours, and overtime was also unchanged at 3.0 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.8 hours.

Private-Sector Hiring Increased by 62,000; Annual Pay Up 4.5%

U.S. private-sector employers added 62,000 jobs in March, while pay was up 4.5% year-over-year, according to data released Wednesday, April 1, by payroll processing firm ADP.

“Overall hiring is steady, but job growth continues to favor certain industries, including healthcare,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. “In March, this solid performance was accompanied by a boost in pay gains for job-changers.”

Two sectors provided most of the gains: education and health services (+58,000), and construction (+30,000). Hiring in trade/transportation/utilities (-58,000) continued to decline, as did manufacturing (-11,000).

The smallest employers (those with 19 or fewer employees) drove job growth (+112,000) for a second month, while those with 50 to 249 employees saw the largest decline (-26,000).

Year-over-year pay growth for job-stayers remained at 4.5% for the third consecutive month. For job-changers, pay gains accelerated to 6.6%.

Financial services employers provided the largest median annual pay bump for job-stayers, at 5.2%. Increases were more subdued for information services and “other services” employers (3.8% and 4.2%, respectively).

Family Caregivers Account for $1 Trillion in Essential Care

About 59 million caregivers provide care for an adult family member, neighbor or friend, according to a new report from the AARP Public Policy Institute. Approximately 37 million of these caregivers (63%) provided care each month.

Based on the research, caregivers’ time adds up to 49.5 billion hours of care, representing $1.01 trillion in total economic value annually. That value exceeded the $932 billion total in federal, state and local Medicaid spending and $557 billion total in out-of-pocket health spending, according to AARP.

In addition, the number of tasks caregivers perform has increased over time:

57% of surveyed family caregivers of adults perform high-intensity caregiving, defined by the tasks they perform and the hours they devote to caregiving.
55% perform medical/nursing tasks that are typically handled by healthcare professionals.
Family caregivers spend, on average, 27 hours per week on caregiving.

“Many are doing all of this while working, while raising children and trying to stay afloat, both financially and emotionally,” AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said.

AI-Using Employees Are More Engaged, But Loyalty Is a Concern

Fewer employees feel engaged at work than they did a few years ago and article intelligence (AI) may be contributing to the decline, according to a new Employee Engagement Statistics Report by career website Resume Genius.

The report found U.S. employee engagement is down 5 percentage points from its 2020 peak, translating to roughly 8 million fewer engaged employees.

It suggested employees who use AI in their day-to-day work are far more engaged than their counterparts who don’t use AI (or are not permitted to) at work. For example:

Frequent AI users are nearly three times more likely to be fully engaged at work.
32% of workers say they would rather ask ChatGPT for advice than ask a coworker.
- 44% of Gen Z workers feel this way, the highest percentage among all generations.

However, higher engagement doesn’t necessarily translate to loyalty. Among surveyed daily AI users:

30% say they are actively looking or interviewing for a new job.
31% strongly agree they’re scared their job could be replaced by AI.
Only 21% say they feel connected at work, compared to 30% to 33% of workers who rarely or never use AI.

“Engagement isn’t just about whether employees like their jobs,” said Nathan Soto, a career expert at Resume Genius. “It also translates to whether they feel secure and supported in their jobs as the nature of work changes. AI may be increasing productivity, but if it also increases anxiety or weakens social connections, employers could see employee loyalty quietly decline, even as engagement rises in the short term.”

Women Show Stronger Engagement and Burnout at Work

Despite reporting higher levels of burnout, women are more likely than men to say they are “extremely motivated” to pursue career growth opportunities, according to recent data from Gallup. The analytics and advisory firm reported 20% of women say this, compared with 16% of men.

Women lead men by 6 percentage points in workplace engagement, 34% versus 28%. The current gap is slightly higher than the average over the previous four years, according to the Gallup analysis.

Among full-time employed workers with children, 33% of women versus 25% of men say they “always” or “very often” experience burnout. Among those without children, the 8-percentage-point gap remains, (31% among women and 23% among men).

From 2022 through 2025, an average of 29% of women in leadership roles reported experiencing burnout compared with an average of 19% of men in these roles. Among managers, there is a 7-percentage-point difference in average burnout rates between women (34%) and men (27%). These differences have remained relatively stable across the four-year period.

Figures and Facts of the Week

3 million: The number of messages, on average, U.S. workers send to ChatGPT per day asking about wages, compensation or earnings, according to a new report by the AI chatbot’s developer, OpenAI.
37: The percentage of U.S. and Canadian workers who leave their jobs due to poor culture or management, making it the leading cause of early departure, according to a report by staffing and recruiting agency Aerotek.
30: The percentage of American workers who describe their senior leaders as “exceptional,” according to research by leadership and communications consultancy The Grossman Group. Meanwhile, 16% of surveyed employees said their leaders are “outdated,” leaving them exhausted, overwhelmed and burned out.
22: The percentage of global workers who confidently said they believe their job is safe from elimination, according to new research by HR and payroll solutions provider ADP.
8: The percentage of U.S. employees who reported spending 10 or more work hours per week on financial matters, according to a recent employee financial wellness report by technology analyst firm Valoir.

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