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Employers added 228K jobs in March, but lost 700 in accounting

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Employment rose by a stronger than expected 228,000 jobs in March, although the unemployment rate inched up one-tenth of a point to 4.2%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

Despite the mostly upbeat jobs report, the stock markets nevertheless plunged amid widespread concern over the steep “reciprocal” tariffs announced Wednesday by President Trump. 

The professional and business services sector added 3,000 jobs, but lost 700 jobs in accounting, tax preparation, payroll and bookkeeping services. The biggest job gains occurred in health care, social assistance, transportation and warehousing. Employment also grew in the retail trade industry, in part due to the return of workers from a strike in the food and beverage industry. But federal government employment declined by 4,000 in March, after a loss of 10,000 in February, amid job cuts ordered by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. However, the Internal Revenue Service is reinstating approximately 7,000 probationary employees who had been placed on paid administrative leave and asking them to return to work by April 14.

Average hourly earnings rose in March by 9 cents, or 0.3%, to $36.00. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 3.8%.

Trump boasted about the jobs report in an all-caps post on Truth Social, writing, “GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!”

Congressional Democrats disagreed. “Unemployment is rising, and this seems to be the last report buoyed by Democrats’ blockbuster job creation,” said House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, in a statement. “Recession odds are getting higher by the day as Trump plagues our economy with the largest tax hike in decades. Wages would need to skyrocket for the people to weather Trump’s higher prices and needless uncertainty. This report doesn’t yet reflect the dangerous firings of thousands of public servants or the layoffs that started hours after he announced the Trump Tariff Tax. This administration is ruling through the lens of billionaires — sacrificing workers’ paychecks, destroying trillions of dollars in savings and retirement wealth, readying more than $7 trillion in tax giveaways to primarily benefit the rich, all to bring down interest rates, and ultimately, pad their own pockets.”

Economists are predicting fallout from the historic tariff increases announced by Trump. “We now have more clarity on the trade policy following ‘Liberation Day’ on April 2,” wrote Appcast chief economist Andrew Flowers. “The average effective tariff rate is now above the level set by the Smoot-Hawley tariffs in 1930. This is one of the largest changes to economic and global trade policy since President Nixon’s decision to move away from the gold standard more than 50 years ago. The impending fallout from retaliatory tariffs from our trading partners across Europe and Asia will radically shift employment growth across manufacturing, retail and construction as consumer goods prices rise.”

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Total college enrollment rose 3.2%

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Total postsecondary spring enrollment grew 3.2% year-over-year, according to a report.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center published the latest edition of its Current Term Enrollment Estimates series, which provides final enrollment estimates for the fall and spring terms.

The report found that undergraduate enrollment grew 3.5% and reached 15.3 million students, but remains below pre-pandemic levels (378,000 less students). Graduate enrollment also increased to 7.2%, higher than in 2020 (209,000 more students).

Graduation photo

(Read more: Undergraduate accounting enrollment rose 12%)

Community colleges saw the largest growth in enrollment (5.4%), and enrollment increased for all undergraduate credential types. Bachelor’s and associate programs grew 2.1% and 6.3%, respectively, but remain below pre-pandemic levels. 

Most ethnoracial groups saw increases in enrollment this spring, with Black and multiracial undergraduate students seeing the largest growth (10.3% and 8.5%, respectively). The number of undergraduate students in their twenties also increased. Enrollment of students between the ages of 21 and 24 grew 3.2%, and enrollment for students between 25 and 29 grew 5.9%.

For the third consecutive year, high vocational public two-years had substantial growth in enrollment, increasing 11.7% from 2023 to 2024. Enrollment at these trade-focused institutions have increased nearly 20% since pre-pandemic levels.

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Accounting

Interim guidance from the IRS simplifies corporate AMT

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Jordan Vonderhaar/Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/

The Internal Revenue Service has released Notice 2025-27, which provides interim guidance on an optional simplified method for determining an applicable corporation for the corporate alternative minimum tax.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 amended Sec. 55 to impose the CAMT based on the “adjusted financial statement income” of an “applicable corporation” for taxable years beginning in 2023. 

Among other details, proposed regs provide that “applicable corporation” means any corporation (other than an S corp, a regulated investment company or a REIT) that meets either of two average annual AFSI tests depending on financial statement net operating losses for three taxable years and whether the corporation is a member of a foreign-parented multinational group.

Prior to the publication of any final regulations relating to the CAMT, the Treasury and the IRS will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking. Notice 2025-27 will be in IRB: 2025-26, dated June 23.

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In the blogs: Whiplash | Accounting Today

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Conquering tariffs; bracing for notices; FBAR penalty timing; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Whiplash

Number-crunching

  • Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): “7-Figure Firm, 4-Hour Workweek: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself.”
  • The National Association of Tax Professionals (https://blog.natptax.com/): This week’s “You Make the Call” looks at Sarah, a U.S. citizen who moved to London for work in 2024. On May 15, 2025, it hit her that she forgot to file her 2024 U.S. return. Was she required to file her 2024 taxes by April 15?
  • Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Anteing up with Uncle Sam: The World Series of Poker is back, and one major change this year involves players from Russia and Hungary. After suspension of tax treaties with those nations, players will have 30% of winnings withheld. 
  • Parametric (https://www.parametricportfolio.com/blog): Direct indexing seems to come with a common misunderstanding: On the performance statement, conflating the value of harvested losses with returns. 

Problems brewing

  • Taxing Subjects (https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog): No chill is chillier than the client’s at the mailbox when an IRS notice appears out of the blue. How you can educate — and warn — them about the various notices everybody’s that favorite agency might send.
  • Dean Dorton (https://deandorton.com/insights/): Perhaps because they can be founded on trust, your nonprofit clients are especially vulnerable to fraud.
  • Global Taxes (https://www.globaltaxes.com/blog.php): When it’s your time, it’s your time: The clock starts on FBAR penalties when the tax forms are due and not when penalties are assessed — and even the death of the taxpayer doesn’t extend the deadline.
  • TaxConnex (https://www.taxconnex.com/blog-): Your e-commerce clients can muck up sales tax obligations in many ways. How some of the seeds of trouble might hide in their own billing system.
  • Sovos (https://sovos.com/blog/): What’s up with the five states that don’t have a sales tax?
  • Taxjar (https://www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): Humans are still needed to handle sales tax complexity, with real-world examples.
  • Wiss (https://wiss.com/insights/read/): A business — and business-advising — success story from a California chicken eatery.

Almost half done

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