The Health Care sector led growth over the last year, with payrolls expanding by 151,800 or 5.1%. Other sectors posting strong gains over the include Leisure and Hospitality (36,400 or 1.8%), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (16,700 or 1.2%), Other Services (13,800 or 2.3%), and Education (8,600 or 2.0%).

Government led job declines over the last year, with payrolls in that sector falling by 42,900, a -1.6% decrease. The losses have been driven by the Federal and State Government subsector, while Local Government has grown. Other sectors with notable declines over the last year include Manufacturing (-14,800 or -1.2%), Construction (-9,400 or -1.0%), Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities (-5,400 or -0.6%), Management (-3,700 or -1.3%), Information (-3,600 or -0.7%), Administrative Support (-2,900 or -0.3%), Finance and Insurance (-1,900 or 0.4%), and Wholesale Trade (-1,900 or -0.3%)

At the industry level, growth was mixed. Health Care led the gains in March, with payrolls expanding by 29,400, an increase of 0.9% on a month-over-month basis. This was partly driven by striking Kaiser employees returning to work. Other sectors posting strong gains during the month were Government (4,600 or 0.2%), Retail Trade (2,700 or 0.2%), Real Estate (2,200 or 0.7%), and Construction (2,000 or 0.2%).

Information saw the largest declines in March, with payrolls falling by -2,300, a contraction of -0.4% on a month-over-month basis. Other sectors posting significant declines include Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (-1,900 or -0.1%), Education (-1,600 or -0.4%), Administrative Support (-1,300 or -0.1%), Wholesale Trade (-1,200 or -0.2%), Other Services (-1,000 or -0.2%), Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities (-900 or -0.1%), Finance and Insurance (-900 or -0.2%), and Manufacturing (-800 or -0.1%).