March 2020 Economic Report

The March 2020 Economic Report below was created for you with information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, Yahoo Finance, and FedPrimeRate.com so that you can make better hiring decisions. Below the report, check out the Amtec Tip of the Month about working from home successfully.

Amtec Tip of the Month

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, working conditions have changed dramatically. For those of you working from home, here’s some insight from our team member Rob the Recruiter on how to do it successfully. 

Additional Information

If you’re unable to view our March 2020 Economic Report or would like additional information, read below:

COVID-19: Data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reflect some of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the labor market in early March. However, the data does not reflect the entirety of March due to the fact that establishment and household surveys predated coronavirus-related business and school closures in the second half of the month.

• The unemployment rate rose by 0.9% to 4.4% in March. This is the largest over-the-month increase since January 1975.

• Total employment decreased by 701,000 in March, mostly in food services and drinking places.

• Leisure and Hospitality lost 459,000 jobs.
  • 417,000 jobs lost in food services and drinking places; this nearly offsets the past 2 years of gains.

• Health Care and Social Assistance lost 61,000 jobs.
  • 43,000 jobs lost in health care
  • 19,000 jobs lost in child care services

• Professional and Business Services lost 52,000 jobs.
  • 50,000 jobs lost in temporary help services
  • 7,000 jobs lost in travel arrangement and reservation services

• Retail Trade lost 46,000 jobs.
  • 16,000 jobs lost in clothing and clothing accessories stores
  • 10,000 jobs lost in furniture stores
  • 9,000 jobs lost in music, hobby, book, and sporting goods stores
  • 10,000 jobs added in general merchandise stores

• Construction lost 29,000 jobs.
  • 11,000 jobs lost in nonresidential building
  • 10,000 jobs lost in civil engineering and construction

• The federal government added 18,000 jobs.
  • 17,000 jobs added for the 2020 Census

• Average hourly earnings for all employees rose by 11 cents to $28.62. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.1%.

• Job openings rose 6.3% in January to 6,963,000 openings.

• Dow Jones had its largest point drop in history on March 16, 2020. Due to COVID-19 pandemic fears the Dow fell by 2,997.10 points. Over the month of March the Dow fell 14.3%.

• Housing starts dropped by 1.5% to 1.6 million in February.

• Consumer price index rose 0.1% in February.

• Federal prime rate dropped to 3.25% in March after an emergency Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

• Retail inventories changed little in January at $660 billion.

• Manufacturing hours worked per week dropped 0.74% to an average of 40.4 hours in March.

• Manufacturing new orders dropped by 0.01% to $497 billion in February.