Jim Tankersley, Jeanna Smialek and Joe Rennison contributed reporting.
Employers added 236,000 jobs as the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases appeared to take a toll. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent.
Layoffs had remained low across the economy for the past year, as workers quit jobs voluntarily and companies held on to anyone who would stay. But that has started to change.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance have been trending upward, according to data released on Thursday, after the Labor Department revised the figures to better reflect seasonal factors. A survey of layoff announcements collected by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed that job cuts rose 15 percent in March, and tripled from a year earlier.
Read the full Challenger Report here: Job Cuts Rise 15% in March 2023, Up 319% from Same Month Last Year, Highest Q1 Since 2020
