March marked another positive month for U.S. employment rates. The latest jobs report released Friday reveals that last month's employment gains exceeded economists' expectations by adding 215,000 jobs. While the unemployment rate rose slightly from 4.9 percent to 5 percent — mostly because of an uptick in the number of people actively seeking jobs — there were quite a few other good-news nuggets buried in the report:
- 10 million full-time jobs have been added to the economy since the recession ended in 2009.
- Private-sector jobs have been growing for 73 consecutive months now, topping the previous record of 51 months that was set between 1996 and 2000.
- The share of people who weren't in the labor force who found a job in March marks the largest share since September 2008.
- The number of unemployed Americans leaving the workforce has nearly returned to pre-recession levels.
- March marks the first time the labor participation rate has been up for 4 consecutive months since 1992.
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