by Calculated Risk on 4/01/2011 08:30:00 AM

From the BLS:

Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 216,000 in March, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
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The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from +63,000 to +68,000, and the change for February was revised from +192,000 to +194,000.

The following graph shows the employment population ratio, the participation rate, and the unemployment rate.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

The unemployment rate decreased to 8.8% (red line).

The Labor Force Participation Rate was unchanged at 64.2% in March (blue line). This is the lowest level since the early '80s. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force. The participation rate is well below the 66% to 67% rate that was normal over the last 20 years, although some of the decline is due to the aging population.

The Employment-Population ratio was increased slightly to 58.5% in March (black line).

The second graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms aligned at maximum job losses. The dotted line is ex-Census hiring.

The current employment recession is by far the worst recession since WWII in percentage terms, and 2nd worst in terms of the unemployment rate (only the early '80s recession with a peak of 10.8 percent was worse).

This was slightly above expectations for payroll jobs. Over the last three months, the economy has added about 160 thousand payroll jobs per month (188 thousand private payroll jobs per month). I'll have much more soon ...