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US Federal Jobs Decline Accelerates in March as Musk Continues to Cut Government Staff
By Prathapan Bhaskaran - Apr 08, 2025, 05:18 AM ET
Last Updated - Apr 08, 2025, 10:46 AM EDT
Job gains in services with health care and social assistance in lead show Trump tariffs yet to impact payrolls
A decline in U.S. federal government employment in March underscored the gathering momentum of staff cuts by Elon Musk-led DOGE. The latest employment situation report showed no impact ahead of the implementation of the series of additional import tariffs that President Donald Trump has announced.
Trump announced a general tariff of about 10% on almost all imports to the country on April 2, 2025, the Liberation Day. They got rolling on April 5. The elevated ‘reciprocal’ tariffs that Trump announced would g into effect on April 9. The slew of tariffs and the uncertainty from shifting deadlines have bred chaos in stock markets across the world. After China announced 34% additional tariffs on imports from the U.S. and Trump threatened to slap 50% more tariffs against China, the markets fell into the red territory on Monday after a weak bounce in early morning trade. The Wall Street Journal said the U.S. markets were inching closer to the bear territory, defined as a 20% drop from a recent peak.
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The employment situation summary report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that a rise of 228,000 in non-farm payroll employment in March did not help reduce unemployment, which was stable at 4.2% as 7.1 million people remained unemployed. The BLS said in its February 2025 report that the economy added 151,000 jobs.
The job gains mainly occurred in health care, in social assistance, and in transportation and housing sectors. Retail trade also showed a slight improvement in employment.
The impact of Federal layoffs and the new tariff regime on the unemployment situation will be closely watched as it has remained in a narrow range of 4% to 4.2% since May 2024.
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