The number of people working in metropolitan Memphis climbed to a record in March, and the jobless rate eased to 3.9%.

Full- and part-time jobs were filled by 616,658 area residents in March, the most ever recorded in any month in any year by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The March report from the BLS on hiring trends was released recently and is the latest month available.

The jobs data in the report underscores the widely discussed worker shortage in Greater Memphis as the economy powers along at full employment.

The region’s jobless rate has now remained below 5% for 26 consecutive months.

Some economists say full employment occurs when the jobless rate measures below 5%. Full employment is said to mean everyone who wants a job can find one. Even though some companies continue to let workers go, economists figure those who are dismissed can generally find new work within months with the economy at full employment. About 25,300 residents were on the unemployment rolls in March, down by about 900 in a year.

Mass layoffs rocked the nine-county metro area in the 2008-2009 recession, sending Memphis-area jobless rates into the double digits. Not until 2015 did the jobless rate stay regularly below 6%. Employers have added almost 60,000 jobs in the metro area since the recession’s worst point here.

Almost all signs point to the job market remaining strong. The Memphis economy tends to follow national trends.

The United States unemployment rate slipped to 3.6% in April, “the lowest level since December 1969, near the peak of the Vietnam War when draft rates sliced the labor force dramatically,” says Philadelphia-area economist Joel Naroff’s newsletter to subscribers. Draft rates refer to a national policy then of men who turned 18 being inducted into the U.S. armed forces unless they had a deferment.

“Despite the strong demand for workers and the low unemployment rate,” Naroff wrote, “wages rose moderately over the month and the increase over the year continued to decelerate modestly. The strong labor market is keeping the economy going, but the less than stellar income gains are keeping it from accelerating.”

With a shortage of skilled workers now considered acute, the Greater Memphis Chamber plans to convene a summit in late summer to explore workforce training programs.

March's employment report is based on household surveys. The report shows almost 11,000 more residents were employed compared to a year earlier in the Memphis metropolitan statistical area, a region of nine counties identified by the U.S. government as having strong commercial ties.

The Memphis region consists of 1.34 million people residing in the Tennessee counties of Fayette, Shelby and Tipton; the Mississippi counties of Benton, DeSoto, Marshall, Tate and Tunica; and Crittenden County, Arkansas.

Separate from the household survey, government labor monitors surveyed metro-area employers. The survey found 649,600 payroll jobs in March, a gain of almost 7,000 jobs in a year.

The number of payroll jobs peaked in November at a record 665,000. The number typically comes down after the holiday shipping season and begins rising as outdoor work increases in the spring and summer.

Employer and household surveys generally show different employment totals. That’s because many people in the metro area work two or more jobs.

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