Payrolls Plunge To 88K, Biggest Miss Since December 2009, Participation Rate At New 30 Year Low

So much for "open-ended QE driven recovery". Moments ago the March Non-farm payroll hit and it was a doozy, printing at 88K, below the lowest forecast of 100K, well below the expected number of 190K, and a tragedy compared to the February revised print of 268K (was 236K). This was the biggest miss to expectations since December 2009 and the worst print since June 2012. The unemployment rate declined to 7.6%, but this was due entirely to the collapse in the labor force participation rate, which declined by 20 bps to 63.3%, a new 30 year low.
And now the time to come up with excuses is here.



and its not just the US - Canada's employment collapsed the most since Jan 09...


From the report:
Total nonfarm payroll employment
edged up in March (+88,000). Over the prior 12 months, employment growth
had averaged 169,000 per month. In March, employment increased in
professional and business services and in health care, while retail
trade employment declined. (See table B-1.)
Professional and
business services added 51,000 jobs in March. Over the past 12 months,
employment in this industry has grown by 533,000. Within professional
and business services, accounting and bookkeeping services added 11,000
jobs over the month, and employment continued to trend up in temporary
help services and in several other component industries.
Job
growth in health care continued in March, with a gain of 23,000, similar
to the prior 12-month average. Within health care, employment increased
by 15,000 in ambulatory health care services, such as home health care,
and by 8,000 in hospitals.
Construction employment continued to
trend up in March (+18,000). Job growth in this industry picked up this
past fall; since September, the industry has added 169,000 jobs. In
March, employment continued to expand among specialty trade contractors
(+23,000). Employment in specialty trade contractors has increased by
128,000 since September, with the gain about equally split between the
residential and nonresidential components.
Within leisure and
hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places continued
to trend up in March (+13,000). Over the past year, the industry added
262,000 jobs.
In March, retail trade employment declined by
24,000. The industry had added an average of 32,000 jobs per month over
the prior 6 months. In March, job declines occurred in clothing and
clothing accessories stores (-15,000), building material and garden
supply stores (-10,000), and electronics and appliance stores (-6,000).
Within
government, U.S. Postal Service employment fell by 12,000 in March.
Employment in other major industries, including mining, manufacturing,
wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial
activities, state government, and local government, showed little change
over the month.
The average workweek for all employees on
private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.6 hours. The
manufacturing workweek decreased by 0.1 hour to 40.8 hours, and factory
overtime rose by 0.1 hour to 3.4 hours. The average workweek for
production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was
unchanged at 33.8 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)
In March,
average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls,
at $23.82, changed little (+1 cent). Over the year, average hourly
earnings have risen by 42 cents, or 1.8 percent. Average hourly earnings
of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees, at $20.03,
changed little (-1 cent) in March. (See tables B-3 and B-8.)
The
change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from
+119,000 to +148,000, and the change for February was revised from
+236,000 to +268,000.