The US labor market continued its recovery in March. Payroll employment rose by 431,000 in March. While the gain was a bit lower than most analysts had expected, the estimates of employment in both January and February were revised up, putting average monthly growth in the first quarter of 2022 at a robust 562,000, as shown in figure 1. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point in March to 3.6 percent and is now roughly back to its pre-pandemic level. Notwithstanding the low unemployment rate, the level of US employment remains materially below the level of pre-pandemic forecasts. The gap reflects an ongoing ... (full story)