U.S. Hiring Stays Robust as Jobless Rate Falls, Wages Pick Up

The U.S. added close to half a million jobs in March and the unemployment rate fell by more than expected, highlighting a robust labor market that’s likely to support aggressive Federal Reserve tightening in the coming months.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 431,000 last month after an upwardly revised 750,000 gain in February, a Labor Department report showed Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 3.6%, near its pre-pandemic low, and the labor force participation rate ticked up. Wage gains accelerated.

The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a...