The March Jobs Report shows some interesting results. The month of March saw a decrease in unemployment to 4.5%. This is the lowest unemployment rate since May 2007, which is great news. That being said, there are pros and cons to this last month’s results. Let’s take a look at some of most important takeaways from March.

Broad Overview

• Unemployment decreased by 0.2% in March
• Total unemployed persons declined by 326,000
• Total nonfarm payroll increased by 98,000 vs 180,000 expected
• “Real unemployment” declined to 8.9%, which is the lowest in years

Demographics

• Unemployment for adult women declined to 4.0%
• Unemployment for Whites declined to 3.9%
• Unemployment for Hispanics declined to 5.1%
• Unemployment rates for African Americans, adult men, Asians, and teenagers showed little or no change

Wages increase, but there’s more

• Wages for private sector workers increased by 5 cents
• However, inflation is also growing so that eats away at some of those wage increases

Employment by Educational Attainment

• People with less than a highschool diploma have the highest rate of unemployment at 6.8%
• High school graduates with no college degree have an unemployment rate of 4.9%
• Individuals with some college or an associate degree have an unemployment rate of 3.7%
• People with a Bachelor’s degree or higher have an unemployment rate of 2.5%

Overall, education continues to be an important determinant in a person’s ability to find and hold a job.

Unemployment Breakdown by Industry

• The majority of industries experienced an experience in employment
• Professional and business services saw the largest increase in employment by 0.3%
• Retail, however, saw the largest decline in employment at -0.2%

JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade believes that we should dismiss the retail number as many retail stores are still trying to find a healthy balance between brick-and-mortar and online sales.

If you would like more information, check out the Jobs Report Summary.

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Sources:[bls.gov, cnbc.com, blog.wsj]