LinkUp Forecasting Net Gain of 35,000 Jobs in March; Openings Rose Sharply in the Month

Job growth in March will likely be minimal but LinkUp's job vacancy data for the month indicates a sharp increase in labor demand which should translate into stronger job gains in April

Getting this in just under the deadline in advance of tomorrow’s jobs report for March, we’ll defer on any commentary until after tomorrow’s report and for now, we’ll simply publish our job vacancy data for March along with our non-farm payroll forecast for the month.

Looking at our U.S. data for March, total job vacancies indexed from employers globally rose 7.6% while new job vacancies jumped up 19.9%.

Total and new openings rose in nearly every state.

Labor demand rose in both manufacturing and services as well as in both blue and white collar occupations.

Similarly, labor demand rose in every industry and occupation category.

Based on LinkUp’s data, we are forecasting a net gain of 35,000 jobs in March - slightly below consensus estimates of 65,000 jobs.

As always, please keep in mind that our forecast is for the final revised March numbers that will be published in June, not tomorrow’s initial release which, based on what we’ve seen over the past 12+ months, will be significantly revised over the next two releases.

We’ll publish our commentary following tomorrow’s jobs report.