DENVER — The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 178,000 new jobs were added in March, reflecting a rebound in the jobs market after the economy shed 92,000 jobs in February.
This dropped the unemployment rate to 4.3% from 4.4%.
Healthcare had the strongest gains, adding 76,400 jobs last month. This was aided by the return of 31,000 Kaiser Permanente employees following their February strike. Factories added 15,000 jobs, and construction added 26,000 jobs.
University of Colorado Boulder Chief Economist Richard Wobbekind said Colorado’s job gains followed the national trend.
"Well, the aging demographic is No. 1, where more and more people are going into assisted living," Wobbekind said. "...When you look at the health care, you know aging would be the No. 1 characteristic. But you look at health care hiring, a lot of it's in the category called Social Assistance, so it's really taking care of people as they age, as opposed to medical doctors.
Wobbekind said the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates with such strong job growth.
Many economists believe the jobs report did not completely reflect the war in Iran and rising energy prices.
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