US employers add surprisingly strong 303K jobs in March as unemployment ticks lower

US employers collectively increased their payrolls by a hefty 303,000 in March — the fifth consecutive month of hotter-than-expected job gains.

The monthly figure blew past the 200,000 job gains economists expected.

Though a strong job market historically keeps interest rate levels elevated, Wall Street has been wary of making predictions off of initial figures in recent months, as the Labor Department has made some drastic revisions.

February’s surprisingly strong 275,000 gains were revised down to 270,000, and the Labor Department steeply revised January’s blockbuster 353,000 additional roles down to 256,000 on Friday.

Last month, the federal agency also said that December’s hefty gain of 333,000 that was initially reported was also slashed to 290,000.

For all of 2023, revisions took 520,000 roles off of initial estimates, countering a historical trend where final numbers are typically higher than first readings, according to CNBC.