Research Brief: Employment – March 2022

Employment growth continues at rapid clip. Employers created 678,000 jobs in February, exceeding the 2021 monthly average of 560,000 positions. The strong opening salvo in hiring for 2022 has lowered the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent. Down from the pandemic peak of 14.7 percent in April 2020, the measure is just 30 basis points above the pre-health crisis benchmark, which in itself was also a historically tight rate. There are nevertheless 1.4 percent fewer people working last month than in February 2020. Given the current trajectory of onboarding, that marker is set to be met and even surpassed this year.

Download