Media Sector Shows Stability In March As U.S. Hiring Comes In Strong.

Broadcast employment held steady last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The government’s data shows 334,202 people were working in the broadcast and content creation sector in March, which was 100 more than a month earlier. On a year-over-year basis, total employment was down 1.8%. The segment includes not only radio and television broadcast companies, but also other content companies like cable TV. BLS doesn’t release radio-specific monthly figures.

In the other media-related sector, BLS data shows employment in publishing followed a similar relatively stable trend to broadcast. Total employment in that sector was 902,800 in March. That was up by 800 employees month-to-month — or a reversal of the small cut recorded in February. On a year-to-year comparison, the total employment figures were down 0.4%.

The number of people working in advertising and public relations is closely tied to how well media companies can expect to do in the coming months, and the government’s March data may offer a bit of caution for broadcasters. It may also point to AI efficiencies remaking the advertising and marketing workforce. The ad sector’s workforce shrank 2.9%, continuing a trend that has been seen in recent months — excluding a small half percentage point increase recorded in February. BLS says ad sector employment was also down 1.2% in March vs. a year earlier.

March brought better-than-expected news on the overall U.S. job market. The government says nonfarm payroll employment increased by 178,000 last month, well above analyst expectations. The result was the unemployment rate edged down slightly to 4.3%, which was down 0.1% from a month earlier, with 7.2 million Americans looking for work.

Revisions to earlier months offer mixed signals. BLS revised up January’s job decline, saying the economy lost 34,000 fewer jobs. But it also reports February saw 41,000 more jobs lost than had been previously reported. With these revisions, employment in January and February combined is 7,000 lower than previously reported.

Kory Kantenga, Head of Economics at LinkedIn, says the latest jobs report offers “some reassurance but resolves little” as the latest reading comes before energy prices spiked. “For now, the labor market appears stable despite month‑to‑month volatility, but momentum is tepid and uncertainty ahead remains high,” he writes in a post. Even so, Kantenga says leading indicators point to no broad labor market stress as payrolls rebounded and unemployment edged lower.

BLS says the strongest gains in March occurred in health care, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing. Like broadcast, employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; retail trade; information; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 9 cents in March to $37.38. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 3.5%. And the average workweek for all employees was unchanged at 34.2 hours.