U.S. Employment Surged More Than Expected In February

A closely watched report released by the Labor Department on Friday showed employment in the U.S. surged by much more than expected in the month of March.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 228,000 jobs in March after climbing by a downwardly revised 117,000 jobs in February.

Economists had expected employment to rise by 135,000 jobs compared to the addition of 151,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate crept up to 4.2 percent in March from 4.1 percent in February. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.

At 11:25 pm ET, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak on the economic outlook at the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s annual conference.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Michael Barr is due to speaks on “Artificial Intelligence and Banking” at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, and University of California Santa Cruz 2025 Fintech Conference at 12 pm ET.

At 12:45 pm ET, Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller is scheduled to participate in a discussion on “Payments” at the 2025 New York Fed Innovation Conference.